Cherry Crushed
by Gemsta rox
Summary: Cherry knew that going to school with her step sister Honey would not be easy - especially after the catastrophic events of the summer, but even she could not have predicted this...
1. Chapter 1: Falling

Chapter 1 – Falling

"Cherry, you'll be fine today," Charlotte said gently. "Honey will leave you alone." I just nodded meekly, not believing any of it. Honey, the oldest of the Tanberry sisters, did not like me very much. Well that was putting it lightly. She hated me, and had told me so on several occasions. Her hatred towards me was not without reason though – just last month I had stolen her boyfriend, Shay Fletcher. Shay and I falling for each other had not been planned, you never do plan when you fall in love or to whom, it just happens, and when it does it feels amazing, but can often land you in a heap of trouble.

A knock at the door – that would be Shay. I hurried down from the table to locate the whereabouts of my trainers.

"Hello Charlotte. Is Cherry in? I thought I might walk her to school."

"Yes, of course Shay. Why don't you come in?"

"Has anyone seen my trainers?" I called out desperately as Shay entered the living room where I was rummaging under the sofa.

"I haven't seen them in the house recently. Maybe they're in the caravan," Charlotte replied.

"Right," I said and stood up. I put my slippers back on and walked slowly across the front garden to the little clearing that was home to my little gypsy caravan. When I got there, I opened the door, went inside, and sat down on the bed. I hadn't realised till then that I was shaking but now, when I was alone, I realised that I wasn't just scared of going to school today, I was absolutely terrified, and like a coward, I started to cry.

"Cherry?" Shay poked his head around the door. I tried quickly to pull myself together but he had already seen I was crying.

"Cherry, what's the matter?" he said as he walked over to the bed and pulled me onto his lap. I just shook my head, ashamed to admit what had gotten me in such a state, and buried my face in his chest.

"It's Honey isn't it," he guessed as he rocked me gently back and forth. I lifted my head and nodded and he could see the terror in my eyes.

"I won't let her hurt you Cherry, and that's a promise," he said cupping my face in his hands.

As he looked into my eyes all my worry melted away and suddenly we were kissing.


	2. Chapter 2: Busted

**AN - Well what can I say? Firstly I am sincerely sorry for the amount of time you have all spent waiting for me to update. I have several excuses none of which are very good, the first being a hell of a lot of school work and revision for exams. The second, is quite simply that I fell in love and got rather distracted to say the least and then more than a little depressed when he broke up with me after eight and a half months and continued to mess with my head for a while after. Through that breakup I not only lost my boyfriend, but also my best friend and illustrator. So finally, back to work...I will try and make this chapter a good one as you really deserve it...and I may just be trying to butter you up a bit in time for the reviews...I know I don't deserve any reviews but even so you know where that magic button is...**

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**Chapter 2 - Busted**

"Cherry! Shay!" A voice gasped. "What on earth do you think you're doing?" We immediately sprung apart and looked up at Charlotte's gaping face.

"Charlotte, it's not what it looks like I swear," Shay protested guiltily. "We were just...just kissing," he finished lamely.

"Sure Shay, I've heard it all before but Cherry's only fourteen, bear that in mind before you...do anything. Would you mind waiting in the main house while I talk to Cherry."

"Of course Charlotte." Shay walked past me, looking at the ground but at the door he turned and mouthed "good luck" with that signature grin of his. I just sat there awkwardly after he left not wanting to look at Charlotte.

"Cherry," Charlotte said gently and I looked up and met her eyes at last.

"We really were just kissing Charlotte," I began blushing furiously but stopped when Charlotte snorted.

"Yeah right," she said. "I've never seen you looking so guilty and if you were 'just kissing' then why did you spring apart so suddenly when I came in?" She paused looking at my bright red face. "Look it's not really my place to lecture you, and I won't tell Paddy but...you are being safe, aren't you?"

"Charlotte," I moaned. I was totally not having this conversation with my step mum (well step mum to be but that's not really the point).

"I mean it Cherry. I'll say no more about it if you come to the doctors with so we can get you put on some...well some effective protection of some description."

"Charlotte, we're not having sex," I whined, going an even brighter shade of red if that was even possible.

"Even so, it would give me peace of mind," Charlotte pleaded.

"Fine," I said, if only to stop her from talking about it further. "Just can we please stop talking about this now?"

"Yeah sure, you can go meet Shay now, just make sure you don't-"

"Yeah Charlotte, I get the idea," I said and shot out of the room like a bullet.

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After leaving the room I took the time to admire my surroundings once more. The location of my gypsy caravan really was rather beautiful, with the little stream trickling by and the surrounding trees forming curtains that hid me from the rest of civilisation. Many people might have felt lonely living so far away from the rest of the house but to me, it was perfect. I just stood there gazing into the stream and was so caught up in my own thoughts I didn't notice Shay creeping up behind me.

"Hey beautiful," Shay whispered in my ear, wrapping his arms around my waist and nibbling on my ear. "Ready to face school yet?"


	3. Chapter 3: OldHabitsDieHard

**So I thought seeing as I'd kept you waiting so long for the last chapter I'd start this one asap...hope you enjoy...review. :)**

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**Chapter 3: Old Habits Die Hard**

One of the many perks of being Shay's girlfriend, was that he'd passed his driving test for his moped over the summer meaning that I got to arrive on my first day in style...or I would have done had I not fallen flat on my back trying to get off afterwards. Not exactly what I wanted people's first memory of me to be but hey, at least I had Shay to help me up again afterwards.

"Entering with the grace of a baby elephant in true Cherry style," a voice I knew only too well sneered from behind me.

"Go away Honey," Shay said rolling his eyes. "Noone was watching anyway."

"Well clearly that's not true," she said, gesturing at the small crowd that had gathered round to watch.

"Look I don't want any trouble. It's my first day Honey, I just want to blend in," I pleaded with her.

"Like you could honestly blend in Cherry," she smirked. "You're a freak, both of you are but fine have it your way. I'll leave you two freaks to do...well whatever freaks do." With that she turned on her heel and walked straight through a puddle splashing water all over me.

"Cherry," Shay gasped, "are you ok?"

"Yeah, it could have been worse I guess."

"But you're soaked. Here have this," he said, taking off his leather jacket and wrapping it round my shoulders. I immediately felt better. And warmer. Just breathing in the scent of his jacket made me feel safe again. He offered me his hand and pulled me up into his arms. I gave him a small smile.

"Thanks Shay," I murmured. "I love you."

"I love you more," he replied, promptly kissing me to prevent me from arguing. Eventually I stopped trying to shake my head in protest and gave in to his warm embrace and soft lips. Eventually he pulled away for air.

"We need to get to class," he pointed out.

"Just five more minutes," I begged.

"Do you really want to draw even more attention to you being the new girl by being late or your first lesson?" he asked. "Besides, we can always continue this after school..."

"I'll hold you to that you know," I smirked at him, winking.

"Oh I don't doubt that you will. What class do you have first?"

"Chemistry," I said after consulting my timetable. This was good - I liked chemistry and the teachers tended to be rather eccentric which usually made them more accomodating towards my overactive imagination.

"I'll walk you to class then - I have Maths, which is only two doors along." I smiled at him gratefully as we started walking. He smiled back at me and took my hand gently in his, stroking small circles on the back of my hand with his thumb. With each circle I grew more relaxed, and felt my worries ebbing away. Today was going to be ok, I just had a feeling and I knew that Shay would be there for me regardless. On the knowledge that I would see him again at break, I could survive the next few hours alone.

We reached the door and I started to go in but Shay tugged on my hand. I looked back frowning slightly.

"What I don't get a goodbye kiss?" he asked, a look of mock disappointment on his face. I rolled my eyes - this was so typically Shay - but leant in for a kiss anyway.

"Cherry, do you think you would mind joining us?" a voice enquired from behind us and I whipped around mortified. "Class did start three minutes ago." I looked at the teacher as I passed in the door, sizing him up. Despite his stern words there was a hint of amusement etched on his face and he did not seem to be too iritated by my late arrival, nor too phased by the fact that his first sighting of me had been me kissing my boyfriend. I decided I was going to like this teacher.


	4. Chapter 4: Don'tJudgeABookByIt'sCover

**AN: Well, I have another chapter ready for you, enjoy. This chapter is more of a fill in chapter so sorry if it's a bit short. If you have any suggestions for what to put in my chapters then tell me in either a PM or a review. I took inspiration for Chapter 2 from Cherry Crush Lover so thankyou for the idea. :)**

**Chapter 4: Don't Judge a Book By It's Cover**

"Hello class," Mr O'Sullivan called out. "We have a new person joining us today. Cherry, why don't you come up to the front and tell us a bit about yourself? I cursed silently and took back my previous thought about liking this teacher, for he had just called me to do the one thing I hated doing more than anything - talking about myself. I mean sure I hadn't minded making up stories about myself for Shay, but that was different...I mean, he was Shay after all - there was nothing intimidating about him. My class on the other hand...well I barely knew any of them. I may have seen a few of the faces around town, but there was noone there I'd actually talked to let alone bothered to get to know.

"Umm...hey. I'm Cherry," I stated lamely, provoking snickers from the majority of my classmates. Even Mr O'Sullivan raised an eyebrow.

"I meant something we didn't already know," he said with a chuckle. I cast around in my mind for inspiration but came up blank. Honestly, where was my imagination when I actually needed it, when it could get me out of trouble rather than into it.

"Aren't you one of the chocolate box girls?" a small Chinese boy in the back row asked helpfully, giving me a small smile.

"Yeah," I replied, grateful that he'd given me something to talk about. Several members of the class were looking at me in interest now. "My Dad Paddy and step-mum, well step-mum to be, met over the internet and he used to send her boxes of chocolate through the post. That's where I got inspiration for the name of their business."

"So you actually came up with the name?" another girl with raven black hair asked, awestruck.

"Yeah, well we all came up with names but we picked mine after a lot of thought and consideration because it seemed, well more personal. We all help out from time to time but Paddy and Charlotte do most of the work."

"Thankyou Cherry," Mr O'Sullivan said, seemingly deciding I'd said enough. "That was very interesting. Now if you would take the seat at the back next to Jiang, we may begin the lesson." I made my way to the seat he'd pointed out and smiled at Jiang. He smiled tentatively back.

"Hey, I'm Jiang Lo," he offered me his hand. I shook it gratefully.

"Cherry Costello," I replied.

"I figured you could do with some help up there. It's always difficult being the new kid - that was me last year - but don't worry you'll fit in eventually, even if you did steal your step-sisters boyfriend." My eyes widened.

"I didn't," I stuttered looking ashamed. "Well not on purpose at least. It just sorta happened..." I trailed off when he started chuckling.

"Hey I'm not judging anyone Cherry," he laughed. "Not after the way people judged me."

"Why what did you do?" I enquired curiously.

"Umm...I'm kinda gay," Jiang muttered, looking at the floor, not meeting my eyes.

"Well what's wrong with that?" I was confused - being gay didn't seem like a very good reason to judge someone.

"You know Cherry, I think we're going to be very good friends," he chuckled going red.

"You still haven't-"

"Answered your question?" he finished. I nodded. "Well some people aren't as accomodating towards homosexuals and that hasn't really left me with many friends.

"We could be friends if you wanted?" I offered tentatively.

"I'd like that," he said, beaming. "So what are you doing at lunch?"

"Umm...I'm kinda meeting Shay," I said guiltily but after seeing his face fall I added, "But you can come too." I was glad I did because his face lit up like he'd never heard such good news.

"Really?" he asked. "Are you sure Shay won't mind?"

"Of course not," I replied, not sure of any such thing but hoping that Shay would be understanding. I listened to the rest of the lesson in silence and then let Jiang take me to english as I learned that he would be in pretty much all of my classes, save for P.E. and food technology. Luckily for me, my english teacher, Miss Johnson, didn't make me introduce myself and english passed without any problems, as I waited eagerly for the bell to ring so I could be reunited with Shay.


	5. Chapter 5: SparksFly

**AN: Another chapter up and ready for my devoted readers...please review...it'd give me a lot of encouragement to continue...and like I've said previously, I am open for suggestions cos I don't actually know where I'm going with this story...:) I'll try and include a bit more Sherry in this chapter.**

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**Chapter 5: Sparks Fly**

I shot out of the door so fast when the bell rang, that I almost missed Shay standing outside. I almost screamed when a pair of strong arms shot out and circled themselves around my waist. He spun me round and caressed my cheek making me blush a bright red.

"And where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"As far away from you as possible," I joked, my lips already over half way to his mouth. He responded instantly and closed the rest of the distance between our heads. He licked my lips tentatively, requesting entrance to my mouth and I yielded, my tongue also darting out into his mouth. I could practically feel the sparks fly as they danced round and round in circles. I didn't feel even a little bit self conscious that we were kissing in the middle of the school corridor, with the rest of the students filing past. I was with Shay, and in that moment nothing mattered, nothing could invade our own personal firework show, until someone cleared their throat quietly and I remembered about Jiang. I pulled away from Shay gently and looked towards the source of the noise. As I had suspected Jiang was standing there looking rather embarassed. I reluctantly removed myself from Shay's warm embrace, promising with my eyes that we would continue our makeout session later.

"Shay, this is Jiang Lo. Jiang Lo, this is my boyfriend, Shay Fletcher. Shay, Jiang will be joining us for lunch and breaktimes if that's ok?" I asked.

"Of course," Shay replied, smiling at him. "Pleased to meet you Jiang. Your name means river doesn't it?"

"Yes actually, how did you know?" Jiang asked, seeming slightly awestruck that the famous Shay Fletcher was chatting to him casually to him about the meaning of his name.

"I was in the top french group, so we took an accelerated Chinese class and Jiang was one of the first words we learnt." I just listened to them chatterng away, content to just walk along clutching Shay's hand.

When we got to the cafeteria, Shay went to get lunch for the three of us as he didn't see the point of us all queueing up. Jiang and I went to get a table.

"I see you're getting along well with Shay," I commented, smiling at him.

"Yeah, he's a really nice guy Cherry - almost as nice as you. I always thought he was gonna be really stuckup and stuff because he's really popular and used to date Honey." He shuddered as if repressing a horrible memory and I wondered if Honey had ever done anything to hurt him. I made a mental note to ask him about that at a later date.

"Not all popular people are stuckup...and Honey isn't either. Not really at least. She's just bitter after everything that's happened with her dad. I feel sorry for her really." Jiang made a skeptical noise but let it go.

"Umm...Cherry?" he asked suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind not telling Shay that I'm...well y'know...gay? Just I've never had friends before and I'm worried he wouldn't like me if he knew." He was staring at the floor again and I felt sorry for him.

"Shay's not like that Jiang," I said gently. "But if you really don't want him to know I'll let you tell him in your own time."

"Thanks Cherry, it means a lot."

"Anytime."

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" a voice sneered from above us. "The two freaks are sitting together. Where's Shay Cherry? Has he abandoned you already?" The person that had approached our table was a tall dark male with leering blue eyes. I didn't recognise him and assumed that he was one of Honey's posse.

"What do you want?" I asked warily.

"Well you're quite a pretty little freak really, fancy meeting up with me sometime?" he replied, with a wink that sent shivers sprinting down my spine. "I can teach you things Shay never could." I looked at him, my eyes wide with fear. Jiang was looking from me to the boy quickly, his eyes moving so fast they were a blur. Suddenly, before I realised what was happening Jiang was on his feet yelling at the tall boy that stood sneering over us. The height difference between them would have been comical, if not for the context of the situation.

"How dare you talk to her like that," he screamed. "How dare you come over here and talk to my best friend as if she's an object. She's ten-" But little Jiang never got to finish because the boy, whose name I later learned was Jason, had lifted a hand and sent him flying backwards. Jiang lay there sprawled across the table for a few seconds, before lifting his head and charging forwards shrieking insults all the way. He collided with Jason, with just enough force to send him stumbling back a few paces but Jason lashed out with his knee and sent Jiang flying once more. This time though, he wasn't getting up - he hit his head on a chair with a thump that seemed to resound across the room. I leaned over him worried, and whimpered as a pair of strong hands seized my shoulders and yanked me up.

"What's up sweetheart? Don't say you actually wanted to spend time with that loser?" he sneered at me a look of mock displayed on his face.

"He's my friend," I whimpered pathetically, trying to remove his hands from my shoulders. If anything, this just made him hold me tighter. He pressed me against the wall and pressed his body against me. I knew instinctively that he was going to try to kiss me and clamped my lips tightly together. Sure enough, he lowered his lips to mine.

"Come on, you know you waant this as much as me," he said frustrated.

"No I don't," I protested, and he took advantage of my open mouth to slip his tongue into my mouth. I froze in complete and utter panic. Where was Shay when you needed him? As if in response to my thoughts, a pair of hands closed around Jason's throat. He stumbled back a few paces releasing me from his grip and I fell to the floor in a heap, in too much shock to get up again.

"What do you think you're doing to my girlfriend?" Shay spat in Jason's ear before kicking his feet from underneath him and throwing him to the floor. He just stood there for a moment kicking him before Jason finally came to his senses and pulled Shay down on top of him. The two boys then proceeded to roll around on the floor kicking, punching, and even biting in an attempt to hurt the other. I just sat there too dazed to move.

"What is going on hear?" a thunderous voice asked suddenly and I looked up to see the intimidating profile of the headmaster pulling Shay and Jason apart before blacking out.


	6. Chapter 6: Aftermath

**Yet another chapter for you, please review, remember I'm still open to suggestions - I'm afraid this capter will be quite short as it's only really a filler chapter but there will be a fair amount of Sherry in it.**

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**Chapter 6: Aftermath**

I awoke in my bed in the little gypsy caravan, with Charlotte's worried face looking down on me. I immediately tried to sit up but Charlotte pushed me promptly back down again.

"What happened?" I asked, still slightly disorientated. "How did I get back home?"

"We think you fainted Cherry. The headteacher called us up from school to say you'd run into a bit of trouble. We never imagined...Paddy and I have been so worried. He's gone into town to fetch the doctor."

"I'm fine," I muttered. "Honestly."

"Even so Cherry, what happened? Mr Brown said something about a fight in the cafeteria, involving three boys. Apparently something about you?" I shuddered as the events of lunch came flooding back to me.

"Sorry, I don't really want to talk about it Charlotte," I muttered, embarassed. "Umm...what happened to the three boys?"

"Jiang, Shay, and Jason wasn't it?" Charlotte asked and I nodded. "Neither Shay nor Jason were hurt particularly badly but they've both been suspended for two days." I breathed a sigh of relief that Shay hadn't been seriously hurt and then realised Charlotte hadn't completely answered my question.

"And Jiang?" I asked, fearing the worst. Charlotte sighed, seemingly disappointed that I'd noticed her avoidance on the subject.

"Well the doctors don't think there was any lasting damage, but he hit his head pretty hard and has concussion. He also needed several stitches but like I said he's ok - just spending a few days at home. Mr Brown also suggested that you take a few days off Cherry...it sounds like that Jason bloke gave you quite a scare. Are you sure you don't want to tell me what happened?"

"Yes, I'm fine, I just need some time to lie down."

"Well ok then," Charlotte sighed. "I'll leave you be until the doctor comes. " I smiled at her gratefully as she left the room.

The minute I'd seen her cross the clearing and go out of sight, I picked up my phone and called Shay. I wanted to call Jiang as well but as of yet I didn't have his number and I desperately needed Shay's reassuring voice to tell me that everything was going to be ok. He picked up on the first ring.

"_Cherry, I've been so worried about you! Are you ok_?" he asked me frantically.

"I-I think so. Just shaken really. I can't believe my first day was such a disaster and I am so sorry Shay."

"_Of course you are Cherry. I'm so sorry you had to put up with that creep Jason. I should have been there sooner. Poor Jiang too - he shouldn't have tried taking him on like that though, he's tiny. But why are you sorry Cherry? None of this is your fault._"

"But it is - you've been suspended for fighting but you wouldn't have been fighting if it weren't for me." I started sobbing, as everything just became too overwhelming all of a sudden.

"_Hey sshhh shhh. It's alright Cherry and I don't blame you at all. Listen, do you think you'll still be awake tonight at about eleven?"_

"Probably - I don't think it would be possible to sleep after the events of today. I'll leave my door unlocked anyway so you can get in if I do fall asleep."

"_Ok hon, well I'll try and be over for then. I think you could do with some company._"

"Thanks Shay," I smiled in spite of everything. "You're the best. I should probably go now - Paddy's gone to fetch the doctor and I can't see them being much longer."

"_Of course Cherry. I love you, goodbye._"

"I love you more," I said before cutting him off. I waited another fifteen minutes before Paddy arrived with the doctor.

"Yeah she's just in here," I heard Paddy telling the doctor a few seconds before they walked through the door. The second he saw me awake and sitting up in bed his eyes lit up with an emotion that must have been relief.

"Cherry!" he exclaimed. "How are you sweetheart. I've been so worried."

"I'm fine dad, honest," I said, seeing a definite pattern to my conversations with people today. "Just shaken."

"Yes well I've brought the doctor," he said unnecessarily gesturing to Dr. Carter standing just behind him.

"Hello Cherry," he said in a friendly manner. "I hear you've had a pretty rough day?"

"Yeah but I'm fine now," I gabbled.

"Well I'm just going to check over you quickly to see no lasting damage has been done," he smiled at me. "I'm sure it's not necessary but I have to do my job." he added apologetically.

"Yeah it's fine," I said and waited patiently as he did all the routine checks. Eventually he was finished.

"Well I think we're all done here," he said. "Everything seems fine Cherry but I'd like you to stay home a few days and rest. I think it'd do you good." He turned to Paddy and Charlotte. "Make sure she gets a lot of rest over the next few days. Whatever happened today, it stressed her out a lot. Would you walk to the house with me?" Both nodded. I listened out as they walked away.

"I don't know what happened to her today but it obviously stressed her out a lot."

"Do you think we should talk to her about it?" Charlotte asked. Doctor Carter must have shaken his said because two seconds later she said, "Well what should we do then?"

"Cherry will talk about it to whom she wants when she feels ready. Don't try and force anything out of her - she'll just clam up. The best thing you can do is to let her know you're there for her. I'd advise leaving her alone for the rest of today - she looks like she needs it to think about things." That was the last thing I heard. I silently thanked Dr. Carter for inadvertently having freed my evening so I could spend it with Shay. I immediately called Shay again.

"_Cherry, calling again so soon?_" I could here the smile in his voice.

"Yeah I guess you're just too irresistible," I teased. "Hey listen, Dr. Carter's told Charlotte and Paddy to leave me alone for the rest of the night..." But Shay cut me off.

"I'll be right there," he said quickly before hanging up.


	7. Chapter 7: Heaven

**Yet another chapter ready for you...don't forget I'm still open for ideas...and I love reviews...:)**

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**Chapter 7: Heaven**

I waited eagerly, in anticipation of the arrival of Shay. He seemed to be taking forever and I had to keep reminding myself that I had to give him time to walk over here...and get away from his Dad who would probably be furious that he'd been suspended, especially over a girl. When he arrived, I literally hurled myself into his arm, almost sending us both flying.

"Wow, someone's pleased to see me," he commented, smirking in that cute, dreamy way that made my heart melt and my legs turn to jelly. I answered him by pressing my lips to his mouth and kissing him with an energy I didn't think I had left in me after all the drama of today. He responded just as enthusiastically, flicking his tongue gently against my bottom lip. My tongue rushed out to meet his, as he picked me up and carried me over to the bed, kicking the door shut behind him. He lowered me gently down not once letting his lips leave mine. Only when we were both lying down on the bed next to each other did he finally speak again.

"Cherry I was so worried about you...when you blacked out, I thought he might have seriously hurt you." He looked seriously into my eyes and I found myself getting lost in them. I almost forgot to reply.

"I'm fine Shay honest. I think I only fainted because I was in shock...he didn't actually hurt me - not physically at least."

"I swear if he ever does that to you again I'll rip his head with that stupid smug grin right off that stupid neck of his."

"Hey, hey, calm down. I'm ok, I promise." I smiled at him reassuringly, but then my eyes turned serious, like his. "How badly did he hurt you though?" I asked him concerned, my eyes begging him for an honest answer.

"Oh no, he barely touched me," Shay replied, not daring to meet my eyes. I raised an eyebrow at him sceptically. "Well ok I'm a bit bruised on my back but other than that I'm fine." I subconsciously hugged him closer to me but widened my eyes as he winced. I turned him over gently and lifted up his shirt, revealing the tensed, bruised muscles on his back. I gasped.

"It's fine Cherry," Shay muttered looking at the floor, obviously embarrassed by my reaction.

"So you don't want me to kiss it better then?" I asked, a playful expression on my face.

"Well obviously I wouldn't say no if you wanted to..." he said, smirking at me over his shoulder, but I turned over teasing him.

"No, no, you obviously don't want me to," I muttered, pretending to sulk.

"Cherry," Shay complained. "I want my kisses." But I refused to turn over keeping up the act until he started tickling me.

"Shay!" I squealed in protest but he just tickled me harder. Finally I gave in.

"Ok, ok," I panted. "You get your kisses." I was a tad bemused when he got up from the bed but soon realised it was just to take off his shirt. My eyes widened again but this time it was in awe as I took in the defined chest muscles that proved why he was one of the most popular, good looking people in the school. He laughed as he took in my expression.

"What?" he teased. "Haven't you ever seen a guy take his shirt off before."

"No," I muttered slightly embarrassed and this time it was his turn to widen his eyes.

"What ever?" he asked surprised.

"Well not one that wasn't related to me," I amended.

"Well take this sight in then because it's one of the best chests around here and it's all yours," he winked at me.

"Wow so modest," I laughed rolling my eyes, but pulled him back onto the bed and into my arms anyway. Like he'd done to the back of my hand in the morning to soothe my nerves, I gently rubbed gentle circles on his back and I felt him sigh, as though at least a small portion of his pain was being relieved. I looked up at his face to see that his eyes were closed and he was smiling as if a great weight had been lifted.

"That feels so nice Cherry," he started to say but I cut him off swiftly with a kiss. He lifted himself on top of me and when we broke apart he rested his head on my chest, just listening to my heart beat. "I could stay like this with you forever Cherry," he sighed contentedly.

"Ditto," I said. "Right now, being here with just you, I feel like I'm in heaven."

"Do you think this, us, will last forever?" he asked me, suddenly serious.

"I certainly hope so," I replied, "but I always worry - what happened to my mum. What if you die young too?"

"It won't, I promise. We have plenty of time left yet."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," I retorted quickly but then took that back. "Sorry, it's just I'm so afraid Shay. What if the people at school never leave me alone?"

"They will," he assured me. "Just give them time and they'll come to see you how I see you - as an amazing, creative, beautiful angel."

"And in the meantime?"

"In the meantime, I'll protect you, just like I did today." I smiled, accepting his answer for now.

"My knight in shining armour," I muttered before falling asleep, with Shay's arms still wrapped tightly around me. I think I remember Shay kissing me lightly on the cheek before I slipped into the warm embrace of sleep.


	8. Chapter 8: Oops

**And the next chapter awaits my readers...remember that reviews are much appreciated...enjoy...:)**

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**Chapter 8: Oops**

"Cherry!" I awoke in the middle of the night to frantic knocking on my door and Charlotte and Paddy desperately calling my name. I widened my eyes when I realised that I was still safely wrapped up in Shay's arms. Shit! What would they think when they saw Shay? Then Charlotte would be completely convinced Shay and I were sleeping together.

"Shay," I whispered, shaking him roughly.

"It's not morning yet Dad," he mumbled, clearly only half awake.

"Shay wake up!" I said frustrated. "Firstly, I'm Cherry, not your dad." His eyes shot open. "And secondly, Paddy and Charlotte are knocking frantically on my door. You need to hide. Get under the bed!"

"Now!" I hissed when he just lay there staring at me. He scrambled into action. The second he was out of sight, I answered the door trying to look confused.

"Cherry, about time," Charlotte said narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

"Well it is the middle of the night," I pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah, listen have you seen Shay. I've had his dad on the phone going frantic...he says he just went up to see Shay and he's not in his room."

"Umm...no, I haven't," I lied unconvincingly throwing an anxious glance over my shoulder, which probably didn't do much to convince the two agitated adults at my door. In that quick glance over my shoulder I saw something which caused my heart to go free-falling straight down into my stomach. Shay's shirt still lay discarded on my fall. I quickly started to shut the door saying, "Well if you don't mind, I should probably get back to sleep now..." I trailed off at the look on Charlotte's face.

"Cherry," Charlotte said in a voice that was dangerously calm. "Why is Shay's shirt on your floor." I floundered, panicking.

"He...he must have left it there the other day," I stuttered.

"Cherry, don't lie to us. Shay's in your room right now, isn't he? Is he in your wardrobe?" She asked, pushing me out of her way and strolling across the floor to the wardrobe, while Paddy marched across to my bed.

"Or under your bed," Paddy stated in a thunderous voice, dragging Shay out from under my bed by his shoulder. Shay winced as Paddy pressed his fingers too hard into one of his bruises.

"Dad stop, you're hurting him," I pleaded my eyes filling with tears.

"Well what is he doing here Cherry? Or maybe I should ask him seeing as you seem to keep lying to me. So Shay, can you come up with a reasonable explanation as to what you're doing in my daughter's room at 3:30 in the morning?"

"We weren't doing anything wrong," Shay protested.

"And what exactly would you call doing anything wrong? Why is your shirt off? And how long exactly have you been here?"

"Look I only came over because I thought Cherry would want some company after the crappy day she's had," Shay snapped, starting to get defensive.

"What at three in the morning? Are you both nocturnal now?" Paddy asked but his tone had softened and he had finally let go of Shay's shoulder. "Look I understand, you wanted to check she was ok after everything but you can't come here so late. What are we supposed to think when when you're here hiding under her bed shirtless in the middle of the night? I'll let it go this once and I'll drive you home."

"Thankyou Mr. Costello," Shay replied. He was bright red by this point. "I'll just get my stuff together."

"Ok, meet me at the house in fifteen minutes, no longer. It'll give you a chance to say goodbye because you're not coming with me to drop him back Cherry." I looked like I was about to protest so he added. "And that's final." ]

"Fine," I muttered sulkily.

"You should just be thankful we're letting you off the hook for this little late night escapade young lady. I have a feeling Shay's dad won't be as forgiving," Paddy said, rolling his eyes at my insolence.

"I'm so sorry Cherry," Shay said, as soon as Paddy and Charlotte had left the caravan. "I should have left the second you fell asleep but you looked so peaceful and beautiful, I just couldn't bring myself to leave...and I guess I didn't want to wake you either." I silenced him after that with a quick kiss, not wanting him to apologise any more. I then picked up his shirt from the floor and pulled it gently back on. I think he could see the reluctance in my eyes because he laughed.

"I can probably see you tomorrow," he said smiling. "If you want, I can take you out in a canoe. Hopefully without all the drama we had last time though."

"Yeah I'd like that," I said smiling again. "Though I don't really mind what I do, as long as it's with you." He kissed me again then and this time he was very gentle, caressing my face with one hand, while the other held me close to him. I lifted my feet off the ground and wrapped my legs around his waist. He moved his arms so they formed a seat for me. I pressed myself into him and leaned heavily into the kiss.

"I don't want you to leave," I whispered.

"Believe me, I don't want to leave, but I have to...we've been found out now. I probably shouldn't come here at night for a while - Dad's gonna be on the warpath." He sighed, and for a moment I felt sorry for him again. I was scared of his Dad, and I knew that he was constantly putting Shay down. Sometimes when Shay came over, he looked so demoralised I wanted to go to his dad screaming. I hated seeing Shay hurt, but that feeling was ten times worse, when his pain was being caused by someone that should be trying to alleviate the pain, not increase it.

"I should be off now," Shay said gently, obviously not wanting to distract me from my thoughts. "We don't want your Dad to come looking for me. I'll see you tomorrow though?" he asked.

"I'll be here waiting," I said smiling and removed my legs from around his waist. With that he kissed me on the forehead and went out of the door. I watched until his silhouette had completely receded into the darkness before going back to bed and nestling under the covers and sighing. I was warm and yet everything felt so much colder now I was no more in Shay's loving embrace. But tomorrow, I would hopefully be able to spend the whole day with him and it was with this thought that I let sleep take me once more.


	9. Chapter 9: MissingPeople

**Here is another chapter ready for my loyal readers...you know the odd review might be nice...but for now I guess I'm going to have to be content with the amount of views going spiralling up...the odd review might be nice though...and even the odd idea or I may have to end this story early...which I really don't want to do...anyway, enjoy - this chapter should be slightly longer :)**

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**Chapter 9: Missing People**

I woke up early the next morning, despite being up so late the night before, and went straight over to the B&B to help with the breakfast. I hoped I wasn't the first person up, as then I was in danger of having another 'serious chat' with Charlotte. To no-one's surprise I'm sure, I was the first one up but instead of Charlotte waiting for me, it was Paddy. In a way, this predicament was even worse than if it had been Charlotte waiting for me in many ways as let's just say having 'the talk' from your Dad was far more embarrassing than having it from your Mum, even your step-mum, at least if you were a girl.

"Cherry, we need to talk," Paddy sighed. I cringed.

"Must we Dad?" I asked.

"Cherry, I walked into your room at three in the morning to find your boyfriend hiding SHIRTLESS under the bed," he said. "What am I supposed to think about that? Are you honestly expecting me to just let it go completely?" We heard nervous giggling coming from behind the door, followed by Coco's voice.

"Cherry got busted." Paddy sighed and muttered something that sounded like 'no privacy' before opening the door.

"Coco, would you mind giving Cherry and I some privacy please, I need to talk to my daughter alone."

"Umm sure Paddy, sorry," she said before heading back up the stairs.

"Right, where were we?" he asked.

"You were berating me about last night," I reminded sighing.

"You have to understand that this sort of behaviour really isn't acceptable and if it continues, we may have to move you back in with Honey."

"But she hates me Dad," I protested horrified.

"Well we may have no choice young lady. You're on your last chance, and that's final! Charlotte told me she caught you two the other day as well."

"Ugh, she promised she wouldn't," I groaned.

"I guess after last night, she thought I needed to know and she's not wrong," he snapped. "I just thought I could always rely on my little girl to be the trustworthy, reliable one," he sighed adopting a softer tone. "This recent behaviour really isn't like you."

"People change as they grow up Dad," I reminded him. "And I'm not your little girl anymore."

"That doesn't mean you have to rush into things," he pointed out.

"And we're not," I moaned. "Why does everyone seem to think we're sleeping together."

"You were last night," he smiled.

"Yeah but not in that way." I rolled my eyes. "We were JUST sleeping."

"Look honey, I know Charlotte talked to you about going on the pill and I know you were less than enthusiastic but maybe it's for the best, at least for now." I groaned again.

"Dad honestly?"

"Yes Cherry, unless you want to have adult supervision every time you see Shay?" he asked. He chuckled at the look on my face. "Clearly not. So do we have a deal?"

"Fine," I said. "Can I go now?"

"Yeah sure. Where you going?"

"Just down to the beach."

"Meeting anyone there?" he asked casually. I sighed though I knew I probably deserved it.

"Yes," I sighed. "Shay might be meeting me there. He said he might take me out canoeing later."

"Will you be back for lunch?"

"I'm not sure. Look I'll give you a call yeah?"

"Ok sweetheart. Don't be out too late."

"Of course. I should be back by eight."

"Sure now off you go." He smiled at me before I shot out of the door. I ran down the path that led to the beach hoping Shay would already be there. Sure enough, there he was at the far end of the beach laying out what looked like a picnic blanket. I sprinted towards him as fast as I possibly could but stopped a few metres away and started creeping stealthily up behind him being careful to make as little noise as possible. At the last minute I pounced on his back making him shriek before he realised it was me.

"Jesus Cherry. You almost gave me a heart attack there. I see you've managed to find my surprise." He smiled almost sadly at me, and I felt a little guilty.

"I can still act surprised at lunch time?" I suggested making him chuckle.

"Don't worry that won't be necessary, as long as you like it?"

"I don't like it," I said and his face fell a little.

"Oh, sorry I thought-" I cut him off with a gentle kiss.

"I don't like it, I absolutely love it." His face broke into a massive grin.

"Really?" he asked beaming.

"Of course," I smiled back. "It's perfect, just like the amazing person that arranged it." I helped him lay everything out after that, stopping every now and again, just to stare at my boyfriend's perfect body. I was so lucky to have the perfect Shay Fletcher as my boyfriend, I really was. When everything was finally layed out, I flopped down on the picnic blanket and Shay flopped down next to me. He put one arm around me and sighed looking up at the clouds.

"I'm not sure if we'll be able to go out canoeing today," he said disappointed. "It looks like a storm's coming."

"It's fine Shay, I'm sure you can think of a way to make it up to me and anyway, we have plenty of time."

"I guess," he replied. "It just would have made it the perfect day after everything that happened yesterday." I put an arm gently around him.

"You shouldn't keep blaming yourself for everything," I said gently. "You're an amazing guy."

"I'm not sure if my Dad agrees," he said bitterly.

"But ultimately what matters is what you think of yourself."

"And how am I supposed to think well of myself if everyone else thinks I'm a worthless person and a bad influence?"

"I don't," I pointed out. "I think you're perfect, just the way you are and I wouldn't change even one little thing."

"For real?" he asked me, cheering up slightly.

"Of course, now stop being so down and kiss me," I smirked. This cheered him up a lot and he leaned in towards me.

"Eww, freak alert," Honey snickered from behind us. Shay groaned.

"Not again Honey. Can't you just leave us alone? I had a really bad day yesterday and I - we - really don't need this right now."

"Aww wow I'm sorry, you're telling me this like you think I actually care." She rolled her eyes as if to emphasise how stupid we were to think this. "Which I don't."

"Don't worry Honey we know you don't care," Shay assured her, exasperated. "Now just go away before I make you." Honey narrowed her eyes at Shay, seemingly deciding whether she thought he actually would make her. Something in his face must have convinced her, so she stormed away with her nose in the air. "Good riddance to bad rubbish," he muttered angrily but I cut him off with a short, sweet kiss before he could get into a long lecture. He seemed a tad surprised at first but kissed me back willingly. I put my hands on his shoulders, and felt them relaxing further with each second. He put a hand gently on the small of my back, pressing me closer to him. My hands gradually snaked round his neck and tangled themselves firmly in his hair.

"I love you Cherry," he murmured. "So damn much."

"I know Shay, I love you too," I replied between kisses.

"Did Paddy and Charlotte punish you at all for last night?"

"No," I groaned. "Even worse - Paddy had a 'serious chat' with me and suggested I should go on the pill." He snorted.

"So they actually think we're sleeping together?"

"So it seems." Shay sighed. I knew what he meant. "I don't think they really believe it...they're just paranoid," I assured him.

"It just hurts me that they think I'd use you like that. You're fourteen for heaven's sake. I mean sure, I've thought about it and all, but I always think about it being in the future."

"Ssshhh," I said, and put a finger on his lips. "I know. Do you want to start on the picnic?"

"Sure," he said, smiling at last and kissing me lightly on the top of my head. "Coke or lemonade?"

"Coke please." He tossed me a can. I opened it and took a sip. For the next half an hour or so, we sat around eating and talking about random things that didn't really matter. Just as I was feeding him a sandwhich though, the heavens opened, and that storm he'd been worrying about earlier began.

"Quickly," he shouted over the first rumble of thunder, "start gathering the stuff up. I know of a cave just down there." He pointed down the beach and I nodded, heaping stuff into the hamper. We worked quickly in complete silence as the winds had also picked up, making it virtually impossible to hear anything. When the last of it was finally packed away, he picked up the hamper and started running down the beach, keeping close to the cliff and I followed, not far behind. We reached the cave and collapsed in a panting heap.

"Made it," I giggled. "Wow that's some storm."

"Indeed," he said and then noticing the goosebumps on my arms, "you're cold."

"A little," I admitted, and he opened his arms invitingly. I melted gratefully into his warm embrace. "How can you always be so warm?" I asked in awe.

"I think it's a boy thing," he chuckled but looked slightly concerned when he realised I was still shivering. "You know you'd warm up a lot quicker if we were naked," he joked. I just raised an eyebrow, not thinking that comment even deserved a response.

"It's a scientifically proven fact," he said defensively.

"Let me guess, the scientists were males," I commented sarcastically. He gasped pretending to be offended.

"Cherry Costello, that is so sexist."

"And so true," I laughed.

"Not really-" he began but I cut him off again.

"This, is one argument you won't win Shay Fletcher."

"One day," he muttered, narrowing his eyes. I don't know quite how it happened, but somehow, we must have both fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, Shay was shaking me awake.

"Cherry, cherry, wake up!" He sounded surprisingly frantic, so I shook the blanket of sleep off quicker than I might have done otherwise. When I opened my eyes, my first thought went to how dark it was and I guessed he was frantic because we were out so late. The real truth was worse. Much worse.

"Oh my God, how late is it Shay? I promised Paddy I'd be back by eight. It's so dark!"

"Cherry, there must have been a landslide," Shay said, with something close to fear in his eyes. "We're blocked in."


	10. Chapter 10: Trapped

**Chapter 10: Trapped.**

My eyes widened in horror.

"Blocked in? As in we can't get out?" I asked stupidly. Shay nodded. "Should we call someone?" He laughed bitterly.

"No reception."

"So we're really trapped?" I asked, the full seriousness of our situation finally sinking in.

"Yes," Shay said in a robotic, monotonous tone. "I'm so sorry Cherry, it was my idea to come in here, we should have just gone back to the house."

"It's not your fault," I reassured him, trying to keep my own mounting panic in check. "Like anyone could have predicted this." I walked over to the hamper and pulled out the picnic blanket. He stared at me uncomprehendingly and I explained, "Well it looks like we're going to be here a while so we may as well get comfortable." He sighed.

"I guess."

"We'll be ok Shay, they'll find us."

"And if they don't?" he asked, fear plainly written all across his face.

"They will," I smiled at him. "And besides, we're well prepared - we have plenty of food.

"Thanks," he said.

"What for?" I asked, confused.

"For not falling apart like I did."

"Well what are girlfriend's for?"

"Oh, I can think of a few things..." he smirked. He leaned in and placed a trail of kisses down my neck. I lifted his head and placed my lips on his. He pulled me down onto the blanket on top of him, our lips never once parting. He nibbled gently on my bottom lip and I opened my mouth, my tongue darting out to meet his. Usually when we kissed, our hands stayed wrapped firmly around each other, but this time his hands started to wonder. I stiffened slightly and he started to pull away, but I quickly pushed my lips back onto his, giving him the ok to continue. His hand crept slowly up my top, giving me time to pull away if I wanted. In response, I started to remove his t-shirt. I giggled slightly as I remembered the events of the previous night. He looked at me questioningly.

"Umm...don't worry about it, I was just thinking that this was the state they found you in last night."

"Oh," he chuckled. "Oh yeah. You know, I'm feeling slightly under-dressed right now Cherry." I looked at him hesitantly. I knew what he was hinting at, but I wasn't sure if I was ready for him to do what he wanted to.

"Shay..." I started.

"Ssshhh Cherry, it's ok. I won't make you do anything you don't want to."

"It's not that I don't want to Shay...I'm just not sure I'm ready quite yet."

"I know," he smiled at me reassuringly. He then wrapped me back up in his arms and kissed me softly on the cheek.

"I love you Shay," I sighed taking his hand in my own, and sinking slowly into a troubled sleep.

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**Sorry for the short and slightly mediocre chapter, I got back from holiday yesterday and felt awful about leaving you all on a cliffhanger so I decided to try and force out a chapter for you. I hope you like it...and review.**


	11. Chapter 11: Crushed

**Ok so you guys are gonna hate me for what I'm about to do but hey, it'll certainly make the story more interesting and everything will come together in its own special way in the end, I promise. I', also sincerely sorry for the wait for this chapter again. My aunt went into hospital with a brain bleed and we went down to look after my cousins. Then there was results day which was a great day for me - I achieved 7 A*s, 2.5 As, and 3 Bs which I was completely ecstatic with.**

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Chapter 11: Crushed

"Cherry. Cherry!" I opened my eyes groggily. Shay was shaking me awake and his voice sounded urgent. "Cherry, you need to wake up."

"Why what's happening?" I groaned.

"I can hear something, and there's a square of light just up there that wasn't there before. I think they've found us." I followed his gaze to the little square of light. He was right, the square of light was rapidly growing wider and I could hear the voices now. I hugged him and he swept me up in his arms.

"We're going home Cherry, we're not going to die." I breathed a massive sigh of relief and realised that I had actually believed in our imminent death. I could hear the voices outside now and called out to them.

"Hello? Can anyone hear us?"

"Is that you Cherry?" I heard Paddy ask.

"Is Shay with you?" Another voice that must have belonged to Shay's dad questioned.

"Yes I'm here too," Shay called out. The scrabbling noise from outside intensified and before long, the small square of light looked big enough for us both to crawl through. I started scrambling up towards it and looked behind quizzically at Shay when he didn't do the same.

"I'm right behind you Cherry," he promised. "I just want to stay behind you in case you get stuck or slip and if we both attempt to climb up at the same time the wall might collapse." I smiled appreciatively at him and continued my climb. I'd just reached the hole when my foot slipped suddenly sending a cascade of rocks back down into the cave and right on top of Shay. I looked on in horror until a pair of hands reached through the hole and pulled me through.

"Cherry what's up?" I realised my face must have been very pale and I was shaking but I managed to splutter out, "Shay...some rocks fell on him when I slipped...I think he's hurt." Before anyone could stop him, Shay's dad went scrambling through the hole and down the side of the of the cave. I felt a rumbling beneath my feet and looked up. What I saw made me start hyperventilating. And it seemed like I wasn't the only one who'd seen it.

"Everyone run," Paddy yelled staring at the rocks which were once more tumbling down the cliff. I just stood there rooted to the ground. I felt someone pick me up and drag me along but still all I could do was stare in disbelief. Shay was in that cave still...and his father. Surely they would both be crushed? That was how I felt - crushed. I felt like something was constricting my lungs, making it difficult to breath. Before long I'd fainted, the darkness blocking out not only the pain of my injuries, but also the pain of losing someone I love, probably forever this time.


	12. Chapter 12: Numb

Chapter 12: Numb

I felt like I was falling down...down...down...Shay was gone most likely crushed to death. A black hole seemed to be swallowing the oxygen around me, making it difficult to breathe. Suddenly, before I knew what I was doing, I was running back down the path to the beach, sprinting faster than I've ever run before. I had to save him, after all we'd been through together I couldn't just give up on him. I was vaguely aware of people shouting for me to stop but I took no notice and just carried on running. I reached the pile of rocks we'd just been running from and started scrabbling at the rocks. My hands were raw and bleeding by the time the first person reached me.

"Cherry," Charlotte said, pulling me gently away from the rocks. "Cherry, he's gone." I screamed and tried to pull away from her but she held on to me tight. I started sobbing.

"He's - not - dead," I choked out in between sobs. "He c-c-can't be. There was a c-c-cave. H-He'll still be alive."

"If he is still alive, it's the police's job to find him, not yours." Charlotte rocked me gently back and forth. "Now please come back to the house?"

"I want to be here when they find him though."

"Please Cherry," Charlotte pleaded. I looked at her then, I mean really looked at her. She was close to crying and looked rather like I felt. She thought of Shay as family and I realised I was being selfish. This had to be hard on her and the rest of the family too. So I went back to the house and decided to concede to their rules, even if just to make their lives and my own just a little easier.

I retired to my caravan early that night. I was emotionally and physically exhausted and couldn't put up with everyone else's attempted optimism. I knew they thought there was little or no chance Shay was alive but they were wrong. Shay was alive, I could feel it. I knew that he would need all the help he could get when he finally got out of that cave, and I would be there to give it to him. At about eight o' clock, there was a knock on my door.

"Cherry," Paddy called through the closed door. "The doctor's here to check you over." I blinked.

"The doctor?" I didn't need a doctor. All I needed was for Shay to be found alive and safe.

"Well yes Cherry, you've been through a lot today as well," Paddy explained.

"I don't want to be checked over," I said blankly.

"Just let us in Cherry," he sighed.

"No."

"I'm sorry doctor, can you just give my daughter and I a few minutes alone to talk?" I heard my Dad ask the doctor. He must have nodded because a second later Paddy said, "Ok Cherry, we need to talk. If you don't let me in, I'll break the door down."

"Dad," I complained.

"No arguing young lady. Let me in now." I reluctantly let him in. "Cherry, you can't give up-" He started.

"Why?" I cut in. "Why should I keep believing he's still alive when the rest of you have already given up?"

"That's not what I meant Cherry. We all know that it's very unlikely Shay is alive and I'm sure even you won't argue there, but what I mean is that you can't give up on life because there's a high possibility he's dead. When it comes down to it, he is just a boy-"

I cut him off again, suddenly furious. "Get out," I spat at my father, my voice full of malice for the first time ever. "You know what Shay means to me so don't you dare tell me he's JUST a boy." I had not shut the door when he came in and the doctor, suddenly starting to get curious at the sound of raised voices peered in from the dark doorway. As gently as I could manage, I pushed my father out of the door and shut it firmly, not just locking it behind him but also barricading it just in case any of them managed to break the lock. I was not numb anymore. If my Dad's visit had achieved one purpose, it had made me more determined than ever that I would find Shay or die trying. The beast inside of me had been awakened.


	13. Chapter 13: Solitude

Chapter 13: Solitude

I spent the night in complete and total solitude until I heard a quiet, faint knocking at my door. I peered curiously out of the window and my mind ran away with me for a second, wildly imagining Shay standing outside my window as had been the norm on many previous nights. As I was brought back to reality with the harsh realisation of Shay's true situation, I realised it was actually Coco, my youngest step-sister, standing there knocking persistently in the pouring rain. I quickly removed the barricade from in front of the door and let the shivering figure in.

"I thought you weren't going to let me in for a second," she stuttered in between shivers.

"Of course I was. I thought you were Shay for a second..." I trailed off and led her to the bed, trying to cover her in a thick layer of blankets to stop the constant shivering but she shrugged them off.

"There's no time for that. We're going out again," she stated mater of factly.

"What are you talking about Coco? You're absolutely freezing." I stared at her as if she had gone insane and she just stared back as if i was really stupid and missing something obvious.

"We are going out Cherry. We need to execute a seriously time consuming rescue mission," when I still looked blank she rolled her eyes and explained further. "We need to rescue Shay. Seriously, stop gawping at me, anyone would think you were incredibly slow." Still I was staring at her. "Well grab a coat then," she said getting incredibly impatient all of a sudden. I sprung into action very suddenly and put on my cat with such speed I was even surprised at myself. I quickly flung a coat onto Coco as well - if she was going to help me save Shay, I didn't want her freezing in the process.

"Are you warm enough now?" I asked her.

"God I'm fine, this sin't exactly gonna be quick - we need to get to work as soon as possible. Let's go Cherry," she whined dragging me out of the door.

"Thanks for this Coco, it means a lot," I smiled a watery smile at her.

"Don't thank me," she said, smiling and pointing into the trees at a small figure waiting there. "It was all his idea."

"Jiang," I ran to him and drew him into a hug squealing. "What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night."

"I figured you'd need an extra pair of hands if you were going to dig Shay out by morning and my parents never really check up on me anyway. But we should probably keep the noise down a little bit - noise carries far on a clear night by the sea. I nodded in agreement, and together we made our way carefully down the stairs on the side of the cliff, making sure we didn't slip as we really didn't need another casualty to look after. When finally at the bottom, we made our way over to the pile of rocks, ducking under the police tape that bordered off that section of the beach. When we reached the bottom of the rock pile, I finally realised the enormity of the task we'd just taken on, and how slim the chances of our success were. Jiang must have seen the hopeless look on my face because he put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"We'll find him Cherry, just you wait and see."

"How can you be so sure," I asked, my lips starting to tremble.

"Because we're all good friends who are determined to find him...if anyone deserves to find him it's us - I mean we're out here in the freezing cold." I looked at Jiang properly for the first time today and suddenly realised he wasn't wearing a coat. I quickly shrugged one of my many layers off of my shoulders and put it gently on him. Now we were all suitably attired, I took a deep breath, and started to work on the massive task ahead of us.


	14. Chapter 14: DuskTillDawn

Chapter 14: Dusk Till Dawn

We worked all night, removing the rocks in a careful and methodical manner, trying not to trigger yet another avalanche of them to come tumbling down. If that happened we were all in trouble and Shay would almost definitely be dead (if he wasn't already). We all knew we shouldn't be here and we all knew that the consequences if we were caught and had not succeeded would be positively dire.

"Well well well, what have we here? Three losers trying to save one of there own," a voice I knew all too well commented snidely from behind. I spun around and glared at my least favourite step-sister Honey.

"What are you doing here Honey?" I asked, my voice full of malice and my gaze dripping with contempt. Usually I had more patience and sympathy for her, but now was not the time to be putting up with her. If she did anything to sabotage my rescue mission, I would never forgive her and I would make sure that she payed for it.

"Believe it or not freak, I'm here to help," she said sighing. When I raised an eyebrow at her skeptically she said, "I do still care about him Cherry," and looked almost ashamedly at the ground avoiding eye contact with any of us. I felt a knot tying itself tightly in my chest and I felt sorry for Honey again. I'd never really thought how she might be feeling about all of this. Even though they weren't going out anymore, he was still her ex-boyfriend and their break up hadn't exactly been her choice. I hadn't even considered the possibility that she might still have feelings for him.

"Ok," I said simply, and Coco and Jiang looked at me in shock. "If Honey wants to help, I'm hardly about to stop her. It's almost dawn and let's face it, we could really do with an extra pair of hands. I smiled at her, hoping to reassure her that I really did want to her there but she just rolled her eyes and got back to work muttering something that sounded like 'this doesn't make us friends.' I smiled softly to myself and silently got back to work.

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I'm not entirely sure when I fell asleep but I woke when it was almost light wrapped up in someone's arms, safe in my own warm bed. I was so warm and felt so safe that it took me a while to start to stir. As I stirred, my arms tightened around the body pressed tightly against me before suddenly recoiling in shock, as I remembered both the events of last night and also that the only person 'allowed' to hold me like that was still trapped in a cave, most likely dead. My eyes shot open and I looked straight into the shocked face of Shay.

"Cherry," he said, "you're awake."

"And you're here," I said stating the obvious and still in complete shock. I just lay there staring at him before I finally organised my thoughts. "When did you get out? And how are you still alive? We all thought for sure that you'd be dead."

"So many questions, anyone would think you were disappointed to see me," he winked. I glared at him and he sighed. "The cave we were in went back much further than we realised and when I saw the rocks starting to fall, I gave you one last push up through the hole and ran as far back as I could. As you can imagine, I got the shock of my life when it just kept going and I figured my best bet would be to keep following the tunnel and hope that eventually it led me out. At some point or another, it started to curve back on itself and eventually, it came to the sea. I was exhausted by this point and couldn't be bothered to start what I gathered would be a long and tiring swim back to the shore. Once I was well rested I finally set off. It was dark and I probably should have waited till light but I missed you and I thought you might be worried about me. Clearly I was right," he said pulling me close to him again in a tight embrace. "When I got to the shore, I saw you passed out and was really worried before the others came out of their various states of shock and reassured me you'd merely fallen asleep. I then picked you up and carried you in here and they obviously decided to give us some privacy." He smiled at me lovingly and for the first time in what seemed like forever, I managed a small smile back.

"I'm so glad you're ok Shay," I said, my eyes beginning to get watery. "I thought you were dead and I honestly couldn't have dealt with that."

"Don't worry Cherry, I'm safe now and we still have a couple of ours before I have to reveal to the rest of the world that I'm alive."


	15. Chapter 15: ANightToRemember

**Another chapter for you, my dedicated readers to enjoy as and when you please. If you enjoy what you read, please tell me of your appreciation by reviewing. Also, I've just realised I should probably do a disclaimer. Nothing in this fan-fiction belongs to me with the exception of the story line. Oh, and Jiang of course - he is completely my own invention and I am rather proud of him. In fact, he is probably one of my favourite characters I've ever made up, and I've made up loads over the years.**

Chapter 15: A Night To Remember

I could never in my life remember feeling happier than I did right now. Somehow, Shay had survived and tonight I was going to prove to him how much really I loved him. I felt like we had been putting this magical moment off for a long long time and that the inevitable was finally about to happen after too long. I firmly pressed my lips to his and felt him respond almost immediately. He licked my lips and I allowed his tongue entry, both of us falling back into the same routine we had been following for weeks. One of my hands slowly crept up his t-shirt, allowing me to feel the smooth skin of his toned, muscular chest. He lost no time in following suit before starting to tentatively undo the buttons of my black shirt. Once he had pulled it off my shoulders, I pulled his t-shirt carefully over his head. He then pulled back briefly and held me at arms length.

"Are you sure you want to do this Cherry - you know I don't mind waiting," he said looking a little concerned.

"I've just felt what it's like to lose you Shay. I hated it and I think it's finally made me realise quite how much you truly mean to me," I replied, my voice full of certainty. "I never want to lose you again."

"And you never will," he said beaming and beginning to kiss me again with renewed vigor. As our tongues danced in circles around each other, I knew that nothing had ever felt more right, nothing had ever made me feel more at home than this did and I knew that I wanted to stay here in Shay's arms forever. I was never going to let anything tear him away from me ever again. Right here, right now, I had everything I needed and I knew that if I had the choice, I wouldn't leave. Not for anything. Internally I was melting from standing too close to my own personal fireworks show. Everyone always said that playing with fire gets you burned, but they never said how good getting burned feels. They never said how good the feeling was. Shay and I had never been so close to each other physically and I could feel every part of him pressing up against me, wanting me.

"I love you so much Cherry," he whispered into my ear, nibbling on it gently.

"I love you more," I said smirking as he kissed my neck and hastily pulling his lips before he could protest. He leaned heavily into the kiss, nibbling gently on my lips. Slowly, fumbling slightly, we continued to undress each other, and certainly made it a night to remember.

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**Hey people, sorry for the slightly shorter chapter - I couldn't work out how to make it any longer without it needing an M rating which I don't want as I have a feeling that I may well lose half of my readers. As ever, I eagerly await your reviews and would love any suggestions on what you want to happen next...I have an idea which I may follow up on, but it depends on how cruel I'm feeling as it may involve the death of a character that could well cause many more complications in Shay and Cherry's relationship once again. I have another idea...but it could potentially be pretty difficult for me to write about...I may still attempt it though as it would be an interesting twist. I could even combine the two, it honestly depends on how I'm feeling. But ultimately, it is YOU my readers I want to please and entertain so if there are any turns you particularly want this fan-fiction to take, post them in a review or, if you would prefer to tell me in confidentiality, send me a private message. I don't bite and am always happy to hear suggestions and also I would love some constructive criticism as I always find it useful not only for fan-fictions but also for my own novels. So I hope to hear from some of you as your reviews really do brighten up my day and inspire me to keep on going with my writing as it makes me feel as if people want me to carry on. **


	16. Chapter 16: Trouble

**Before I commence with the next chapter, I would like to make a special shout-out to Llamalover99 and johnmajormrbluehippopotamus for reviewing pretty much every chapter. It really is much appreciated and definitely spurs me on to write even more and quicker as well. In response to why I stopped updating for a while, it's mainly because I was getting used to college and trying to adapt to all the work but I LOVE writing so I am going to try to update as much as possible from now on. In addition, once I finish this one are there any people particularly want me to do, or would you prefer if I just tried to do a sequel to this one. Don't panic, I'm not planning on stopping for a while yet, but I just like to plan a while in advance. :) Read, enjoy, and review. Gemma.**

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Chapter 16: Trouble

Shay and I awoke in the morning still tangled in the sheets from the previous night. I think he must have awoken a while before me because when I opened my eyes, he was already staring at me contentedly, gently caressing my cheek with one hand.

"Morning beautiful," he said and I blushed, "I was wondering when you were gonna wake up. We should probably get dressed and go tell the others I'm still alive before Coco or Honey beats us to it...I don't think your dad would be too happy if he walked in now."

"Another few minutes," I begged quietly, pleading him with my eyes.

"Did I tire someone out," he teased chuckling. I smacked his arm playfully.

"Of course not. I just want a few more moments of having you to myself before the rest of the world gets to share you with me," I sighed.

"Fair enough," he said pressing his lips to mine again.

Suddenly the door to my little caravan flew open and we leaped apart quickly covering ourselves up with whatever was within comfortable reaching distance as Summer and Skye burst into my little caravan followed by Paddy and Charlotte and finally a very out of breath Coco. Paddy took a minute to fully take in the scene in front of him, before dragging Shay up from my bed, his face positively thunderous.

"Would either of you care to explain what the hell is going on here?" he yelled, holding Shay tightly by the shoulder. "You're supposed to be dead and yet I find you here in my daughters bed like...well like this," he spat out the words, getting more and more worked up by the minute. Summer and Skye's eyes were practically popping out of their skulls and they had started to back quietly out of the room by this point, shooting questioning glances in my direction as they went. Coco looked as though she was about to cry and as she caught my eye she looked very apologetic.

"I'm sorry," she mouthed before she too went out of the room and Shay and I were left with Paddy and Charlotte. Charlotte looked very uneasy like she wished she was anywhere else and Paddy still looked absolutely furious.

"I'm waiting," he fumed. "You have till the count of three to tell me what was going on here before I jump to what I hope are the wrong conclusions and get really angry. One." Both Shay and I looked at the ground, neither of us wanting to confirm what he really knew.

"Two." His grip on Shay's shoulder tightened and I winced as his face screwed up in pain.

"Dad please stop it, you're hurting him," I begged starting to cry now.

"Three." He started marching towards the door, dragging Shay after him and I looked pleadingly at Charlotte, who finally spoke for the first time, causing Paddy to pause in his tracks.

"Paddy love, let the boy go."

"What?" he spun round to face her, his face completely infuriated. "I think it's fairly obvious to everyone what's been going on here and you're expecting me to be ok with it?"

"Of course not," she reassured. "But what's been done has been done and to be quite honest, I don't think you're helping anything. Let the boy go." He threw Shay against the wall.

"Get dressed, both of you," he spat. "And meet me in the kitchen in five minutes. I'm not happy about this at all but Charlotte's right, I can't change what's happened. I want to have a word with both of you though." And with that he stormed out, closely followed by Charlotte.

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**I hope you're all happy with this chapter guys and that you find it in your heart to review.**


	17. Chapter 17: Shaken

**Hello, yet another chapter ready to upload for you, my dedicated readers. Remember to give me feedback in the form of a review or even ideas for where the story could go or I may have to stop the story early and I'm sure none of you would want that. :)**

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Chapter 17: Shaken

The minute Paddy had left the room, I rushed to Shay's side to help him up. I couldn't believe what had just happened. My father, who was usually so calm and level headed had just thrown my boyfriend to the floor. It was the first time I had ever seen him get violent and needless to say I was shaken.**  
**

"Shay," I whispered, "I'm so sorry, are you ok?"

"I'm fine Cherry," he reassured me. "You're shaking though." He pulled me gently into the warm embrace of his arms and just held me until I'd calmed down slightly and stopped shaking.

"I just can't believe that happened," I murmured quietly into his body. For a second Shay didn't reply and I wondered if he'd even heard me, but then he spoke again and his voice sounded almost shaky.

"I don't really blame Paddy. Maybe it was wrong of me - you are only fourteen Cherry." His voice was filled with something that sounded like a mixture of regret and guilt and I slowly reached up to touch his cheek.

"Shay, I wanted to - we both did and I don't regret it even a little bit. I love you and dad's just gonna have to deal with that. Please don't feel bad over this," I begged him.

"Look maybe we should just get dressed and go see what they have to say," he replied, still avoiding eye contact. He was starting to make me feel nervous again and it was difficult to believe that just a few hours ago I'd been so elated. We got dressed in silence barely looking at each other and tears started to leak from my eyes once more. Why did life have to be so unfair? Everything had been perfect and our relationship had never been better and now Shay was acting like he regretted last night. It made me feel uneasy and I made sure I stayed facing the wall. I didn't hear footsteps and gasped when Shay placed a hand lightly on my shoulder and spun me around. I looked at the floor, not wanting him to see my tears.

"Cherry? Are you crying?" he asked and sighed when I didn't reply. "Hey, I enjoyed last night...I just wonder if maybe we should have waited and I wish more than anything that we hadn't been caught. Your dad is going to hate me now and he'll never trust us to be left alone together again. That's what I regret, not what actually happened. I do love you, you know that right?" I nodded and he lifted my head up to kiss me on the lips. "Good, then let's go face the music.

We walked through the woods towards the house and as we walked past the window we could see Paddy pacing back and forth past the window in deep conversation with someone, most likely Charlotte. We paused at the door and both took a deep breath before opening the door and entering the kitchen. Both adults halted there conversation the second we walked in but we'd already had little or no doubt that they'd be talking about us when we walked in anyway. Paddy took a deep breath, clearly trying to prevent himself from losing it again.

"I'm sure you both know why I'm so angry," he started but Shay cut him off.

"Yes, of course we do," he began and I felt disappointed for a second - I had hoped he might stand up for himself, even if it would only increase the friction currently building between himself and my dad. But then he continued, "However, I refuse to apologise for what we did. Technically neither of us did anything wrong and we both knew what we were doing. Neither of us are really old enough but I do love your daughter very much, and I believe she feels the same way. SHE can correct me if I'm wrong there and I gave her every opportunity to back out if she wanted to." Shay finished and Paddy looked for a second as though he wanted very much to hit him, but then his face softened and I allowed myself to relax just slightly. I smiled at Shay.

"I know all of that and that is the only reason I'm not preventing Cherry from seeing you. Well and the fact that I'm pretty sure she'd find a way to see you anyway. However, I will be keeping a closer eye on both of you from now on." We both looked like we were about to protest and he held up a hand for silence. "It is purely out of concern for my daughter. I have no desire to become a grandad any time soon. That is all I have to say for now and you may go."


	18. Chapter 18: BackToSchool

**It's nice to see a few more reviews from my dedicated readers, so thank you - it really spurs me on. :) Anyway, I think it's about time Cherry and Shay got back to school now, don't you? If they miss much more, they'll fail their current year so I think that's what must now happen. As always, I welcome suggestions from you all as I'm kinda running out of them myself. Anyway, you guys are my inspiration so read and more importantly, REVIEW. :D**

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Chapter 18: Back To School

Two days after the incident, the doctor deemed us both recovered enough to go back to school. Honey had not spoken to us since she had tried to help us that night and I soon found out that it was her who had informed Paddy and Charlotte that Shay was alive before the agreed time. Clearly she was not quite ready to get over her vindictive feud against me, but no matter - I was sure that she would eventually grow out of it and until then, I would just have to wait patiently. Shay knocked for me in my caravan at eight in the morning as usual, giving us plenty of time to have breakfast and be at the school for nine. We walked past the little stream together, matching each other's pace perfectly. The incident from before was almost completely forgotten and the only consequence had been that we had barely been allowed a moment alone since. After a quick breakfast made up of two slices of toast, we set off on the fifteen minute walk to school, waving to those we passed in the street, many whom we knew through the Chocolate Box business. Shay took hold of my hand and gently squeezed my fingers.

"Today will be ok you know Cherry. It won't be like the last time," he said, correctly guessing the reason for my silence.

"How do you know that?" I asked, slightly worried. "Last time was a complete and utter disaster. You got suspended for fighting, I fainted, and Jiang ended up with several stitches in his head. In fact I don't see how it could really have been any worse."

"Well you could have met no friends," he pointed out. "Surely that would have been worse?" I nodded, smiling.

"Yes, indeed," I said, "but on the other hand, if I had not met him, he would not have been injured fighting to 'protect my honour' so to speak."

"That also is true, but he is better now. Seriously, stop worrying. If you believe something will go wrong, then it more often than not does so try to stay positive, please." He smiled at me. "Anyway, I'll look after you this time - I won't let you go anywhere alone, well except for classes as I don't think the teachers would much appreciate me accompanying there." He chuckled softly and pulled me again into a warm and affectionate embrace just as we reached to the school gates. I looked into his deep blue eyes and he captured my lips with his.

"I love you Cherry Costello," he murmured.

"I love you too Shay," I whispered as he kissed my neck. A hard body marched into us as our lips met again, sending us sprawling. I looked up expecting to see Honey, but instead seeing someone I'd hoped I would never see again. Jason. The last time I had encountered him, it had resulted in a brawl in the cafeteria and things were already starting to heat up again between the two boys.

"Shay," I muttered, holding his arm as he went to get up. "Don't bother - he's not worth it and you'll just get suspended again." I groaned as Shay completely ignored me and got to his feet anyway, standing and glaring at Jason with a contempt I had never before seen in his eyes before now.

"What is your problem," he spat. "Can't you just leave us alone and pick on someone your own size."

"Last time I looked, you were Shay," Jason snickered.

"I was merely requesting that you leave Cherry out of it," he retorted, throwing a punch at Jason's nose, which the bigger and slightly stronger boy intercepted with ease.

"Gladly, it would bring me great pleasure to settle this like real men."

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**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I did leave it on a cliffhanger, but you should have another update by the end of tomorrow. Please Review. You know I love hearing from you all. ;) **


	19. Chapter 19: JustWalkAway

**Hey guys, my next chapter for you, as promised. I hope you all enjoy and don't hate me too much for the cliffhanger but most of all, I hope that you REVIEW. So yeah, basically guys, enjoy. :)**

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Chapter 19: Just Walk Away

The bell rang at that point and neither of the boys moved. I was shaking again and I wished that Shay would just walk me to class and walk away from the fight that would inevitably occur if he didn't. Sweet though it was that he wanted to protect me, I didn't think my nerves could cope with another fight like last time.

"Shay," I pleaded, tugging on his arm. "Shay we're going to be late for class."

"Then go to class Cherry...I have unfinished business here to attend to."

"But you promised that the only time we'd be apart today was when I was in class, remember," I begged, trying to drag him away from Jason. He looked down at me again then, and clearly something in my face made him see sense, at least for now. He nodded slowly and turned away.

"That's right Shay, walk away like a good little boy," Jason jeered at him, taunting him, trying to get him to stay but Shay just kept walking. Just as we were about to go out of earshot though, Shay turned around.

"This isn't over Jason, I just don't think Cherry should have to see us rolling around on the floor like a pair of dogs again." Then Shay and I walked through the doors into the hallway.

"You should just leave it, Shay," I said, looking at the floor.

"Look Cherry, I can't let him get away with treating you like this," Shay replied, pulling my chin up so he could look lovingly into my eyes. "This is just one of those things I have to do. Please just trust me for once yeah."

"I can't pretend I'm happy with this Shay," I said. When he looked like he wanted to protest, I added to my statement, "but I do understand why you're doing it. So thank you, I guess." I smiled at him before walking into my first class of the day, which happened to be English. I walked in and took my place at the back next to Jiang. He mouthed a quick hello to me before turning towards the front of the class to face the teacher who had just started explaining today's lesson topic. I wasn't really listening, allowing my mind to wonder and ponder over how to deal with Shay and Jason's vendetta. I vaguely noticed Jiang throwing worried glances in my direction, probably curious as to why I wasn't paying attention to my first lesson back at school. I can safely say I was pleased when that lesson was over and packed up my stuff in double the speed of what I normally would.

"Not so fast Cherry," Jiang said, putting a hand gently on my arm. "You've been distracted all lesson, what's up?" I sighed.

"What isn't?" I asked.

"How do you mean? I am your friend Cherry, you can talk to me about this stuff."

"My dad doesn't trust me, I'm terrified of leaving the house because every time I do something bad seems to happen, and I'm really worried about Shay who seems determined to get himself killed 'protecting my honour'," I rolled my eyes. "So basically speaking, my life is turning slowly into an absolute disaster."

"Why doesn't your dad trust you?" Jiang inquired curiously and I blushed.

"Umm maybe it's best if we don't talk about that," I muttered embarrassed.

"It can't be that bad," he chuckled.

"Oh you have no idea," I said darkly.

"Maybe not," he conceded, "but from the amount of embarrassment it seems to have caused you, I'm pretty sure I can make a pretty good guess that it involves you and Shay." My eyes widened in horror, knowing that he had probably jumped to the right conclusion and he smirked. I had forgotten how observant Jiang was in my time away from school.

"It's ok Cherry, your secret's safe with me. I won't mention it again." I nodded my thanks and made my way to the door, looking outside for Shay. He came walking into view just as I poked my head out. At first glance, everything seemed to be fine, but as he walked closer I could see the distinct shape of a fist shaped bruise starting to form on his cheek. I gasped.

"Shay, what happened? I thought I told you to leave it with Jason."

"I think I'll give you two some space," Jiang muttered, pushing past me.

"Oh give me some credit Cherry. I didn't go looking for him."

"What happened then?" I demanded. "If it wasn't Jason then who was it?"

"I never said it wasn't Jason, I merely stated that I hadn't gone looking for him. He came looking for me and I really don't want to talk about it so can we just go get some lunch?" he said a little too quickly.

"Umm Shay?" I said tentatively. "We still have another lesson before lunch."

"Oh yeah," he said looking slightly flustered. "Sorry."

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**So I hope you liked this chapter and my reintroduction of the character of Jason. I think I might follow the story of his and Shay's feud for a little bit. Well anyway, if you liked it, you know what I want you to do - review, Review, REVIEW. Well or spread the word so I get more hits...I'm not really fussed I just hopr you all enjoyed it. Hopefully I'll have another chapter out for you all by the end of today, so yeah, read, enjoy, and review. :)**


	20. Chapter 20: Floating

**Hey guys, another chapter for all you lovely people. Remember, I am open to ideas and of course constructive criticism. I don't want anything destructive...cos that's just pointless but I welcome constructive criticism as it allows me to develop my writing style and apply it not only to my fan-fictions, but also to my own ideas and means I will hopefully be able to get something published some day.**

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Chapter 20: Floating

Shay and I floated through the rest of that day without any major scrapes and he came back to my little caravan after school. We went straight there without going to the house as we didn't want to draw attention to the fact that Shay was there with me alone, in the hope of just a little privacy. As I opened the door, he suddenly swept me up in his arms, and carried me over to the bed, kicking the door shut behind him. I looked up at his face and I saw more of the cheeky, fun loving Shay I'd first fell in love with. Smiling to myself when he placed me carefully down on the bed, I reached up to stroke the forming bruise on his cheek before kissing him gently.

"So what do you want to do today princess?" he asked, pulling me onto his lap.

"I can think of a few things," I said sticking my tongue out at him.

"Oh really?" he replied raising an eyebrow and kissing my nose. I reached up to capture his lips with mine, and he gently rolled us over so that I was underneath him. My fingers were tangled in his hair which was flicking over his beautiful, deep blue eyes. "Was this what you had in mind?" he asked slyly and I nodded, pulling his lips firmly back onto mine. I wrapped my legs around his waist pulling his body even closer to mine. He nibbled gently on my ear and I gasped in pleasure quickly returning the favour. My phone beeped at that moment and I reached out to check it.

"Just leave it Cherry, I want to spend some time alone with you. It's been too long."

"Shay it's been two days, and besides what if it's Paddy asking where I am?" I pointed out. "He'll come in here and be furious. At least let me check it - if it's not Paddy or Charlotte, I'll leave it. How's that?" He grudgingly agreed and passed me my phone. Sure enough, there was a text from Paddy and I sighed as I opened it.

_Paddy: Where are you Cherry, it's getting late already. _I showed the text to Shay who groaned.

"I have to reply Shay or he'll come in here again and get angry. Is that really what you want?"

"I guess not," he said and got up from the bed.

_Cherry: Almost home dad, Shay and I stopped off for some ice cream on the way back._

"I reckon we have about ten minutes before he starts getting suspicious - I told him we stopped off for ice cream on the way home," I said smiling. He picked me up again beaming, and as I wrapped my legs around his waist, he rested me against the wall, kissing his way down my neck and leaving a love bite on my collar bone.

"Shay," I scolded. "Dad's gonna notice that."

"So cover it up," he smirked and I laughed.

"That's not the point." I rolled my eyes at him and he stuck out his tongue, licking my cheek. "Shay," I squealed. "That's completely disgusting."

"Why don't you get your own back..." he teased.

"Like I said, it's completely disgusting. And besides, I'm far too dignified." I held my head high and squealed again as he licked my cheek. "Eww stop it. That's it, we are going to the house Shay." I reached the door of the caravan and looked behind at him to see he was pouting slightly. "Come on Shay or dad will start to get suspicious. Come back again later tonight and we can spend some quality time together."

"I guess I can live with that," he smiled and came to join me at the door taking my hand as we walked towards the house.


	21. Chapter 21: MoonlightSerenade

**Another chapter ready to upload for you. I hope you liked the last two chapters - sadly no-one's reviewed yet. :( However, as long as you still enjoyed them, that's all that really matters. So yeah read, and enjoy. :) Oh and one other thing, the song in this chapter is A Thousand Years by Christina Perri and does not belong to me.**

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Chapter 21: Moonlight Serenade

I waited up for Shay for a long time that before he actually turned up, and when he finally did I was shocked at the state of him. He had a black eye and his lip was split. In fact, he looked so bad that when I first saw him I almost screamed in horror.

"Shay," I gasped. "I'm pretty sure you didn't look like this earlier. Are you ok?"

"Not really," he admitted. "Jason jumped me on the way here. I'm just glad I brought my guitar in it's hard case. I couldn't stand it if it got broken."

"Here let me have a look at you," I said filling a kettle with water and plugging it in. I took his hand and led him over to the bed. "Do you fancy playing something for me while we're waiting for the water to heat up?" I smiled encouragingly at him and leaned over to kiss his lips gently.

"Umm...sure," he said shyly. "I have tried learning something for you actually and I'm gonna try playing it to you tonight if you want to hear it?"

"I'd love to," I beamed.

"Ok, here goes then," he said and began strumming the first few chords and I smiled with pure joy when he started to sing.

_"Heart beats fast_  
_Colors and promises_  
_How to be brave_  
_How can I love when I'm afraid to fall_  
_But watching you stand alone_  
_All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow_

_One step closer_

_[Chorus:]_  
_I have died everyday waiting for you_  
_Darling don't be afraid I have loved you_  
_For a thousand years_  
_I'll love you for a thousand more_

_Time stands still_  
_Beauty in all she is_  
_I will be brave_  
_I will not let anything take away_  
_What's standing in front of me_  
_Every breath_  
_Every hour has come to this_

_One step closer_

_[Chorus:]_  
_I have died everyday waiting for you_  
_Darling don't be afraid I have loved you_  
_For a thousand years_  
_I'll love you for a thousand more_

_And all along I believed I would find you_  
_Time has brought your heart to me_  
_I have loved you for a thousand years_  
_I'll love you for a thousand more_

_One step closer_  
_One step closer_

_[Chorus:]_  
_I have died everyday waiting for you_  
_Darling don't be afraid I have loved you_  
_For a thousand years_  
_I'll love you for a thousand more_

_And all along I believed I would find you_  
_Time has brought your heart to me_  
_I have loved you for a thousand years_  
_I'll love you for a thousand more"_

I didn't even let him finish the last chord. I took the guitar from his hand and placed it gently on the bed before straddling his lap. My little moonlight serenade was the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for me. The kettle began to whistle, distracting me fro Shay and reminding me of the state he had come to me in. I led Shay over to the sink and started dabbing at his cuts and bruises with a warm flannel.

"You could get him arrested for assault you know," I pointed out as I pressed the flannel tentatively onto his black eye.

"It's not worth it Cherry," Shay sighed. "All we have against him is my word and I doubt it would count for much against his to be honest. Besides I have my little angel to take care of me if I get into any scrapes with him, don't I?" He smiled at me gratefully. "It's good to know I can count on you Cherry so thanks."

"Hey, you'll always have me Shay, that's a promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep Cherry," he said staring pointedly at a fixed point on the wall. "How can you possibly be sure that you won't get sick of all the trouble that comes with going out with me?"

"I won't, all I can give you is my word Shay but that should be enough."

"It is," he reassured me. "For now at least."

"I'm wrecked Shay, it's been an exhausting day and I think I'm going to go to bed in a minute. You are welcome to stay, just make sure Paddy doesn't catch you in the morning of course."

"Ok, we wouldn't want another morning like last time," he agreed as we both climbed onto my bed. Once safely under the covers he encircled me in his arms and I had honestly never felt safer.

"Goodnight Cherry, I love you," Shay whispered softly into my ear.

"Goodnight, I love you too Shay, so much," I whispered back. "Oh and thanks for singing to me, it was beautiful," I murmured sleepily before passing out from sheer exhaustion in his arms.

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**I hope you liked this chapter. I think it was possibly one of my favourites - it's one of the first times Shay and Cherry have been able to be together without any interruptions and too many distractions. Also, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea of a guy singing to me, I just think it would be totally romantic and just well...amazing. So yeah please review guys. I love you all for following this story but reviews really do spur me on. :) So keep following and the odd bit of feedback in the form of a review would really make my day. I should be back tomorrow with another update for you all, but if not there will definitely be another update for you all the following day. :D**


	22. Chapter 22: AlarmBells

**So guys, I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter? As I said previously, it was definitely one of my favourites. I'm not entirely sure what I want to happen in this chapter so I'm just going to improvise and make it all up as I go along. I'm sure you all want me to keep writing so please review - it really does spur me on and encourage me tonwrite more. You're probably getting sick of hearing this but the only way to remedy that is by reviewing so please don't keep me waiting. :) **

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Chapter 22: Alarm Bells

When I awoke in the morning, Shay was no longer beside me and though I knew the necessity of him leaving before Paddy could discover us again, I felt cold and empty. I looked at my watch to discover that it was only five in the morning and it would be several hours before Shay could justifiably turn up at the house without arousing my father's suspicion. I sighed and switched on my phone meaning to send him a text, only for it to switch right back off again due to low battery. I groaned in frustration and plugged it in at the wall. I then got out the little diary Charlotte had given me last year and started to write again. As I wrote, I not only made up stories, but I also poured out all my troubles into the little book. I hoped Shay and everyone else I knew would never find this book as they would instantly know there was more fact to my most recent stories than fiction and may begin to worry about me.

When I looked at the clock again, it was ten to seven and I realised that I had lost track of time whilst I had been writing. I had just twenty-five minutes to be ready before Shay arrived and I usually took at least fifty. Hastily, I threw on a apair of jeans and a red silky top and then got to work on my hair and make-up. Just as I was putting on the last stroke of lip gloss, I heard a knock on my door. I walked over to it smiling - Shay was early again - but when I opened the door it wasn't Shay standing here, it was Jason. Te alarm bells should have been ringing when he didn't knock in the usual way but as usual I had overlooked the little things and as Jason pushed me in before shutting the door, I knew I was in deep trouble and that I had been just a little too careless for the last time.

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Jason picked me up by the scruff of the neck and I fell limp like a rag doll as he threw me roughly onto the bed. He then stood jeering over me and at that moment, I had never felt more worthless. I whimpered in pure terror as he pushed me up against the wall, pinning me there by my upper arms.

"Not so calm and level headed now are you? Not quite so confident when you don't have Shay here to protect you," he snarled menacingly. "In fact, I think you're rather pathetic Cherry Costello. You've been causing trouble for everyone the moment you set foot in this place." I said nothing, just stared at him my eyes wide with horror, my breathing rate quickening, wondering how I had allowed myself to get into this mess. I kicked feebly out in a desperate attempt to get him to loosen his grip but all it resulted in was him tightening it drastically. I tried to scream out but he shoved a corner of the duvet in my mouth causing me to gag and making tears start to stream from my eyes. I silently begged him to stop with my eyes but was horrified when he started to take his shirt off. Suddenly realising what his intentions were, I tried to scream again, pulling the duvet from my mouth and gasping for air but in a split second he had his hands around my throat, cruelly cutting off my oxygen supply. The last thing I saw before I blacked out his a smug look of satisfaction taunting me, daring me to save myself this time.


	23. Chapter 23: KnightInShiningArmour

**So, I hope you liked my previous chapter and yeah I know, Cherry and Shay really need a bit of non-drama time...I don't think they've had a completely drama-less chapter since chapter one so at some point I'll try and remedy that. Not really sure how I'm going to save Cherry in this chapter so it is very much improvised and made up as I go along. Anyway, I hope you still enjoy - thanks again to Llamalover99 for reviewing the last chapter...the lack of reviews was getting rather demoralising. So yeah thanks for that. I'll get started now.**

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Chapter 23: Knight In Shining Armour

I awoke again as I felt someone breathing air into my mouth and my eyes opened slowly to Shay staring worriedly down at me. For a second, I couldn't think for the life of me what had happened. Then I remembered the horrors I had endured a short while ago and started hyperventilating. Shay seemed to realise then that I had regained consciousness and swept me up into a tight bear hug before remembering I'd almost been suffocated and loosening his grip slightly.

"Cherry," he gasped, "I've been so worried. Who did this to you?"

"Umm...Jason I think," I choked out. "I mean I'm pretty sure it was him but my memory's struggling to remember much. What's the time?"

"Seven thirty," he said looking at his watch. "We've called an ambulance." When I groaned he continued, "Cherry, you were just suffocated, we weren't sure if you were gonna wake up or not, of course we called an ambulance." I nodded grudgingly showing my understanding of his actions.

"Where's dad?" I asked, wondering why he was not in the room worrying over me with Shay.

"He went out to call the ambulance and he probably needed some time to calm down Cherry - he was naturally in quite a state over what had happened." That answer seemed reasonable to me and I curled up on the bed, exhausted. I looked up as I felt the bit of the bed next to me move and smiled as I saw Shay clambering on next to me. I curled up to his side, breathing in his scent and wondered how I was so lucky to end up with him. He really was my knight in shining armour.

I heard the sirens coming down the road to the cottage and sighed. Shay looked worriedly down at me one last time and kissed me softly on the forehead before getting up from the bed. He opened the door just as the ambulance men came down the path to the caravan, led by Paddy.

"How is she Shay?" Paddy asked as he paused at the door.

"Awake and talking," he replied and I watched as my dads eyes widened in relief. Shay came in and held my hand as the paramedics came in and checked me over before bundling me into an ambulance. I tried to protest but stopped when Shay promised to stay with me all the way and just let them take me in.

"How long was she out for?" one of them asked Shay.

"I can't be entirely sure but I think it was about a quarter of an hour. When I got to her she wasn't breathing," he said business like and paying more attention to me than the answer he was giving them. Meanwhile they were taking notes on a clipboard. The whole situation was just scary and unfamiliar to me and I hoped that the whole ordeal would soon be over.

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**Gonna be honest, not my greatest chapter but I was kinda distracted and I've been kinda confused recently. If anyone's good with giving advice please message me cos I could really do with some. So yeah, other than that, review and yeah I hope you enjoyed it even though I am less than satisfied with this evenings work. :/**


	24. Chapter 24: Fire!

**Even though I was less than satisfied myself with that last chapter, I hope that you, my readers, enjoyed it. However, I really hope that the next chapter is slightly better. So yeah, read, enjoy and review guys.**

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Chapter 24: Fire!

I was discharged from hospital the next day after they confirmed that there was no lasting damage and decided to go back to school straight away in order to keep myself busy. Of course there was the chance of Jason being at school, but I doubted he'd try anything with so many people around, especially after what had happened last time he'd laid his hands on me. Shay was especially overprotective and glared at anyone other than Jiang who came within two meters of me. Though sweet, I found it all overwhelming and was rather glad when I had lessons and a little time to myself.

"What's with the bodyguard?" Jiang asked in English when he finally got some time alone with me and with a pang of guilt I realised he didn't know anything that had happened. "And why weren't you in yesterday Cherry? What's been going on?" In hushed tones, I proceeded to tell him of the events from two days previously and his face went from worry to pure disgust in a matter of seconds.

"That creep, when I get my hands on him..." Jiang started but I cut him off.

"You won't get your hands on him Jiang," I said quietly.

"Cherry, he's a creep and you can't allow him to keep messing up you and Shay like this. If Shay gets any more protective, you won't even be allowed to go to lessons by yourself."

"Ugh don't get me started," I moaned and he looked at me pointedly as if his point had just been proved but I sighed and continued, "but you won't get your hands on him because firstly you'll get yourself beaten up again, and secondly, I'm going to try and get him charged formally by the police." Jiang nodded, seemingly satisfied by my answer.

"Yes," he said more slowly, "That does make sense. If you were successful, he would be out of the way for a very long time. But Cherry, what if you weren't successful? Jason hardly seems like the sort of guy to overlook someone trying to get him chucked in prison."

"Well I'll deal with that if it comes to it Jiang...I can't keep letting him ruin my life."

"Fair enough, well if it's really what you want, I'll stand by you every step of the way," he said with such conviction he made me want to cry. I gave him a massive hug just as a bell started sounding. I recognised it from the fire drill at the beginning of term and wondered why they were having another one so soon. We lined up at the door before getting led out by the teacher. We lined up outside by the assembly point but it wasn't until we saw the smoke streaming out of the science laboratory, that we realised it was a real fire. I looked around desperately for Shay and started to panic when I couldn't see him anywhere. But then I reasoned with myself. After all, it was a big school and there were lots of pupils. There was no reason to say he wasn't standing near the back, even though it was weird that he hadn't come to find me after his earlier behaviour. I decided I wouldn't worry too much until the register was called.

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**So I hope you liked this chapter. I wonder where Shay could be? I'm working on sorting out my head and I actually think writing is sort of helping it. I'd really appreciate it if you reviewed guys, it spurs me on and definitely helps encourage me to write more. So yeah, please review. :)**


	25. Chapter 25: DetrimentalHeroism

**So guys, I hope you liked my last chapter and are all eagerly awaiting my next one, which is here luckily. ;) So yeah, read, enjoy, and review people. With emphasis on the last bit. REVIEW. Seriously, the lack of reviews can get somewhat demoralising. :P So yeah, enjoy.**

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Chapter 25: Detrimental Heroism

After half an hour and still no sign of Shay, I was starting to get agitated. My nerves were stretched even further when I realised there was also no sign of Jason. I checked my phone for any sign of texts from Shay, any word at all that he was ok. I decided I couldn't wait for the register to be called anymore and went running towards the school, towards the fire that we had all just been evacuated from. I could hear people screaming in the background and I could hear Jiang in particular calling out my name, yelling for me to come back. I ignored them all and just kept on running towards the building, trying to block out the sight of the smoke streaming from the windows.

I reached the door and took a deep breath before opening the it. I flinched back when the door opened as the fire reached out, searching desperately for oxygen. I quickly closed it again and walked round searching for a new way to enter the building that wasn't so close to the fire. I opened a second door and cursed as there was no more luck with this one. I found the third and final entrance and kept my fingers crossed as I opened it. Thankfully, it was third time lucky and I rushed inside and shut the door before the fire could find this new and fresh oxygen supply.

I rushed around from classroom to classroom, making sure I didn't miss anything that could tell me where he was. I started to panic as I reached the second floor and there was still no sign of him, beginning to wonder if maybe I had been a bit hasty running in to try and save him. What if he wasn't even in here?

"Shay," I called out. "Shay where are you?"

"Right behind you Cherry," he replied and I spun around. "What are you doing in here? I came to find Jiang and all I got from his garbled nonsense was that you'd gone running back in."

"Shay," I said tears streaming down my face, trying to wash away the smoke. "I'm so sorry, I thought you were in here so I came in looking for you."

"Hey shhh. It's ok, let's get out of here though while we still can," he said, taking my hand and wiping my wet eyes gently. I nodded and allowed him to begin to lead me out. Just as we reached the door though, I felt the floor fall from beneath me. I screamed as I felt my wrist snap and watched Shay's eyes widen in horror. He kept holding my arm, trying not to let me fall.

"Hold on Cherry," he choked out. "I'm gonna try and pull you up." He tugged lightly on my wrist and I screamed in pain again. "I'm sorry Cherry, but I have to do this - I can't just leave you hanging there and I can't hold on forever."

"I know," I gasped. "I'm so sorry, I should never have come in here."

"It's fine Cherry," he reassured me. "On the count of three I'm gonna try pull you up again."

"Ok," I nodded and braced myself.

"One, two, three," he counted and pulled...

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**So I hope you liked this chapter. It was possibly one of my favourite ones and it was definitely one of the easier ones to write. My head has been pretty much cleared up so I guess I'll have no excuse any more if I don't update. The clearing up of my head came to a rather depressing end but I think it's for the best and I will know better next time. So yeah I hope you guys are all living your lives well. But more than anything I hope you all read enjoy and review. Please, please, please REVIEW. It really does mean a lot to me. But anyway, thanks for supporting me everyone and thanks for continuing to follow Shay and Cherry's story as it is one that I love so much.**


	26. Chapter 26: Skyfall

**So I hope you guys enjoyed my last chapter and are eagerly awaiting my next one...which just so happens to be here. Hope you didn't hate me too much for the cliffhanger. So yeah read, review, and enjoy.**

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Chapter 26: Skyfall

I screamed as we both fell down to the floor below and landed with a smack, me on my back and Shay on top of me. All around us, everything was on fire and the smoke was starting to get into my lungs. I was having difficulty breathing and my head was pounding from the fall. I could taste blood in my mouth and there was little doubt that I had bitten my tongue. I tried to move Shay and get him to wake up but I knew it was no use. It was impossible to know how badly both of us had been hurt from the fall.

"Shay," I whispered, "you need to wake up, we need to get out of here." I felt him stir briefly and my mind was filled with hope for just a second. Even as he opened his eyes though, I knew it would take a miracle to get either of us out of there alive. I could her parts of the ceiling falling, crashing, destroying everything within sight. I whimpered in fear as something fell just a little too close to my head. I knew getting out would be next to impossible, so I just hugged Shay close. I thought I felt his arms tighten slightly around my waist and I smilled contentedly before closing my eyes and letting the smoke overwhelm me.

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The first thing I heard when I woke up was a beeping sound and I instinctively tried to reach out to stop what I thought could only be my alarm clock but my arm felt heavy for some reason. I tried to open my eyes jut to close them straight away when I was blinded by a bright white light. I wondered for a second if I was dead but then the throbbing in my head started and I knew I wasn't - all pain was supposed to leave you when you were dead and I suddenly realised that I was in a lot of pain. I tried to remember what had happened for me to end up in this strange place, but my mind was blank. I turned over and pulled the covers over my head as I heard voices. They seemed too loud and it gave me a headache. For some reason, I couldn't make sense of what they were saying and their words all seemed jumbled together.

"Cherry," a voice from above me said. "Cherry, are you awake?" I shook my head, still unable to understand what they were saying. Their words seemed to be echoing around in my head, making less sense every minute. I shrank back against the mattress as someone removed the blanket from my head. I felt someone put a hand gently on my forehead and I winced as the cold skin froze my own skin which seemed to be boiling hot.

"What's wrong with her Doctor," I heard Paddy's voice and was instantly reassured. If my dad was here, I would be safe. He would make sure they took care of me.

"I don't think it's anything to worry about Paddy," the doctor promised him. "It often takes people a little while to adjust to their surroundings when they've been out of it for a few days. And please, call me Mr. Parsons." The Doctor's voice sounded kind and it made me feel safe again. Slowly, I opened my eyes and stared up at the worried faces surrouding me.

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**So, here's my latest chapter guys and yes, I know what you're all thinking, if poor Cherry spends much more time in the hospital they'll have to give her a permanent residence there. I will stop the drama at some point...but it kinda involves getting rid of Jason and I'm not quite ready to get rid of one of my only three OCs yet. Rest assured though, if I do get rid of him, I highly doubt it will be permanent as he actually kind of makes the story more interesting. If I did get rid of him permanently, I would probably bring in smeone else related to him in some way. So guys, what do you want to happen to Shay? There are a few places this story can go from here. Do you want Shay and Cherry's recovery process to be simple and easy or hard and complex? Do you want them to recover at all? So yeah please review because I really want YOUR feedback on where you want this story to go and I want to integrate your suggstions into my story. Read, enjoy, and REVIEW. :)**


	27. Chapter 27: TheLongRoadToRecovery

**So guys, in this chapter, you should hopefully find out a little more about how Shay fared from the accident - well if everything goes according to plan that is and I don't just like completely forget. I would like to thank Llamalover99 and also Violet-Revenge, both who have reviewed recently. Well none of you said how you wanted Shay to come out of the accident so I think I may decide to be cruel but I'm not entirely sure yet...I may be kind but I may not...it honestly depends on both how I feel and also how depressing the TV shows I'm watching are. So yeah, READ, ENJOY, and most importantly, REVIEW. :D**

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Chapter 27: The Long Road To Recovery

"Cherry love, we've been so worried about you," Paddy sighed, relieved. I blinked, their words still confusing me slightly, and the noise still seeming just a little too loud "Can she understand me Mr. Parsons?" he asked worriedly. Even the doctor seemed to be looking a little worried now and he looked at his clipboard, seemingly reflecting on his notes.

"I'm not sure," he said, scrunching his eyebrows together, his forehead creasing. "I might have missed something. We may need to do some more tests before we can tell exactly how much damage has been done." I tried to open my mouth and tell them I was fine, that I could understand them all perfectly but for some reason I couldn't make my tongue move. I started to panic then and began hyperventilating. Doctor Parsons watching me, looked worried again.

"It is possible," he muttered almost to himself, "that her head trauma has resulted in some brain damage."

"What will that mean for her?" Paddy asked, placing a hand comfortingly on my shoulder in an attempt to calm me down just a bit.

"She could need all sorts of therapy and speech lessons. She could even need to learn to walk again," he said almost apologetically. Then he turned to me, "Cherry," he said gently and I nodded. "I'm going to ask you to do some things for me ok?" I nodded again and he handed me a pen and a piece of paper. "Ok Cherry, I want you to write something for me." When I started to look confused again he added, "whatever you want." I thought for a moment and then started to write in a scruffy scrawl. When I was done, I turned the paper round and Doctor Parsons sighed as he read what I had written. _'Can I see Shay please.' _He looked at Paddy and I watched in frustration as the two of them exchanged a look that told me the answer before Paddy actually said it out loud.

"I'm not sure if that's really the best idea right now love," he said, the worried look on his face once again.

_'Why not?' _I wrote.

"Well Cherry, you're not the only one that was affected in this fire. It's going to be a long road to recovery for both of you," he explained.

_'I still don't see why I can't see him."_

"Well I guess she could see him," Doctor Parsons said, "if she really wanted to."

_'I do.' _I scribbled furiously, gritting my teeth and starting to get frustrated now. Why didn't they get the message?

"I'll just go and arrange something," he said quietly and moved towards the door. Just as he was about to go out, Paddy stopped him.

"Are you sure this is going to help her?"

"If it's what she wants, we can hardly stop her. It's going to happen at some point Paddy." And with that, he left the room.

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**So I hope you liked this chapter. Next time I PROMISE that I will tell you more about how Shay fared from the accident but I just thought I'd be so nice and keep you all hanging on one more chapter. Also, I just didn't feel as though it fit in to this chapter very well. I also wanted to give you another chance to decide what happens to him but you won't have long as I am going to start writing the next chapter in just a matter of minutes. What do you think of Cherry's predicament, being temporarily unable to speak. I wonder what else she won't be able to do? If any of you want her to have any particular difficulties, you can either send me a private message or LEAVE A REVIEW (in case you hadn't realised, the last option is my favourite but of course I would settle for either). So yeah, just remember that you guys are my inspiration and you really inspire me to keep writing - not just my fan-fictions, but also in my own stories. Of course my aim eventually is to become a published author. If any of you guys want to join another community of writers on facebook, follow this link ' groups/177923042254986/?fref=ts' and join ink magic. It would mean a lot as there aren't very many of us at the moment. so yeah guys read, enjoy, and REVIEW. :D**


	28. Chapter 28: AShortSharpShock

**So, I hope you liked my previous chapter, even though I didn't tell you about Shay as promised but I definitely will this time. You should have a chapter full of Cherry and Shay if you're lucky and if my improvising skills are up to scratch. I think I'm going to be nice after all after I broke my promise. Also, another special thanks to Llamalover99 who not only reviewed my last chapter but actually gave me some of the feedback I'd been looking for. It really is much appreciated. I've been rereading Cherry Crush in order to search for more potential ideas to put into my story and came across the possibility of Paddy and Charlotte getting married. My version of events (the engagement and wedding) will be quite different to anything that happens in either Marshmallow Skye or Summer's Dream, partially because I haven't read the latter and so haven't a clue as to what happens in it. This will soon be remedied though as it is one of the few things I am actually asking for for Christmas which is JUST OVER A MONTH AWAY NOW! Yeah I bet you can tell I'm like super excited about that. So yeah just bear with me and allow me just a little artistic license like I hope you think I deserve. I am also asking for driving lessons for Christmas so I hope I will soon be on the roads, though everyone is still somewhat dubious about how much skill I will have with the driving. I still think (or rather hope) that I will be amazing. :P How excited are you all about the new Twilight film? I for one haven't actually seen it yet but I think Breaking Dawn part 2 will be the best one yet. :D Also, I am thinking about starting a new fan-fic some time for Skye and Jamie Finch as I think that would be kinda awesome...I started writing the first chapter to it ages ago and then lost it. Anyway, I found it again when I tidied my room for the first time since year seven, so that's the first time in like six years, possibly more. Anyway, on with the actual story now - I think I have probably rambled on enough (or possibly even too much) for one author's note. So READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW. :D**

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Chapter 28: A Short, Sharp Shock

After half an hour, when still no one had taken me to see Shay, I was starting to get restless and agitated. I think Paddy could tell and had a few quiet words with Charlotte causing her to go out of the room just a few seconds later. My eyes followed her progress out of the door and when she had gone I finally spoke again.

_"How bad is it Dad?" _I wrote, my eyes begging him to tell me the truth without sugar-coating it.

"What do you mean?" he asked, caught unawares by my question.

_"How bad is Shay? Should I be worried?" _He looked at me pityingly and also slightly guiltily as if he didn't want to be the one to tell me any bad news. I swallowed and tears began streaming from my eyes, drawing what was clearly the right conclusion from his silence. I turned over on my bed so that I was facing the wall rather than my dad, not wanting him to watch as I was slowly losing my mind, unable to comprehend what could possibly be so bad that nobody wanted to tell me. I started as I felt a hand gently touch my shoulder, and I looked up again. Shakily I picked up the whiteboard and pen that Doctor Parsons had left me with before he left the room and asked in writing my worst fear.

_"Is he dead?" _I scrawled, dreading the answer. Paddy almost laughed.

"No, of course not Cherry. It's just..." he hesitated and gave me a calculating gaze. Clearly deciding that he thought I could take whatever news he had, he continued. "Well it's just that there's been a lot of scarring externally and he still hasn't woken up since he was removed from the building. The Doctor's still not entirely sure how long it's going to take for him to wake up but they're pretty confident that he will eventually. His body's going to need a lot of recovery time." I nodded, biting my lip and trying to prove to my dad that I was strong enough to take the news. He handed me a tissue from the box on my bedside cabinet and I dried my eyes of tears, before giving him a watery smile just as Doctor Parsons strolled back into the room once more with a kindly smile on his face, and pushing a wheelchair.

"Ok Cherry, we'll take you to see Shay now." I smiled gratefully at him, already getting annoyed that I was no longer able to speak but thankful that I was at least able to understand what others were saying now. "We're not sure if you'll be able to walk at the moment so for now, we'll take you to places in a wheelchair, at least until you've been to a few physio sessions." So I guess that explained the wheelchair. Even though what he was saying made sense, I couldn't help but look at the wheelchair with disdain. Clearly Paddy saw my look as he spoke again for the first time since the doctor had entered the room.

"It's only for a little while," he promised. "I'm sure Doctor Parsons will have you up and about again in no time." I looked at the doctor and he nodded encouragingly, so I allowed them to bundle me into the wheelchair and push me down the corridor into Shay's room. As Shay came into view I gasped, horrified at the state of him. The skin on his face was all red and peeling and there were black marks running from his neck all the way down to his hands. They wheeled me over to his bed and I reached out to touch his damaged skin. It felt all rough and I gently pulled his hand up to my lips and kissed it, as though expecting that to heal it instantly. It didn't though. This was not some fairy tale, where magic existed and kisses and love could heal any wound, any scar.

"If Cherry's ok, maybe we should leave her alone with him for a little while," Doctor Parsons suggested and looked at me enquiringly when I looked up. I just nodded staring blankly down at my scarred boyfriend and wondering if he would ever be the same again. I heard the others leave the room and I pulled myself from the wheelchair and onto the hospital bed to sit beside Shay. Tears started leaking from my eyes again and I found myself thinking things like 'what have i done'? As the tears became a constant, steady stream, I curled into his side. What a pair we'd make when we finally got back to school - a mute and someone scarred possibly beyond repair. I didn't think I would ever forgive myself if he didn't recover fully and I knew that that was because it was MY fault he was like this. Mine and no one else's. I gradually slipped into an uneasy sleep still curled up by my loved one's side, full of dreams which replayed my finally recovered memory of what had happened. I knew now why I hadn't remembered before - the memory was so horrific that my brain had been trying to shield itself and protect what little sanity I had left.

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**So I hope you liked this chapter - I know it's pretty grim but they were in a fire and I think previously they've always gotten off unrealistically lightly so I decided I would try and be a tad more realistic this time round. In a strangely sadistic kind of way I guess I enjoyed writing this chapter and I think personally that it's one of my best ones. So yeah anyway guys, you know what would make me really happy? Yes, that's right, I am of course talking about a review or two. I'm thanking you in advance so please don't disappoint me, READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW!**


	29. Chapter 29: BackDownToEarth

**So, I hope you all enjoyed my last chapter - I loved writing it, even though it was somewhat depressing. Don't worry though, I think both will recover eventually though as I improvise, I can't be completely sure what I'll end up doing. Thanks to Sobia who reviewed and gave some feedback. I am actually considering writing another fan-fiction from Shay's point of view as you are quite right, Shay is a character whose point of view you never actually get to hear. So that is definitely an idea that is worth considering. Saying this again guys, your reviews really do spur me on to write more so thanks to all those who are continuing to support me and who are continuing to follow Shay and Cherry increasingly traumatic story. So yeah, you know my catch phrase. READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW.**

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Chapter 29: Back Down to Earth

I woke up what must only have been a few hours later when I felt someone tugging feebly on my hair. I started swatting them away before remembering where I'd fallen asleep and realising that there was a possibility it was Shay. I shot up immediately and looked straight into those ocean coloured eyes that I loved so much. For a moment, we both just stayed where we were, drinking in the sight of the other but then I threw my arms around him, withdrawing my embrace almost instantly though when he winced and sitting up again.

"Sorry," I tried to say before remembering I couldn't speak and dropping my intent gaze to the ground.

"What's up Cherry?" he asked placing a hand gently on my cheek and I looked up into his eyes once again, which were now wearing a slightly perplexed expression. I picked up my whiteboard and pen once again and wrote on it.

_"I can't speak."_ I turned it around to face him looking rather embarrassed and watched as his expression went from perplexed to shocked and finally to pitying. That was the last thing I wanted - for him to pity me - especially when he was so much worse off. His expression really brought me back down to earth though, it really showed me quite how horrible my situation was. I wondered how I was ever going to fit in at school when I couldn't speak. Would I have to learn sign language? Or would I just have to carry this stupid whiteboard around forever? I began to cry and tried to pull myself back onto my wheelchair in order to exit the room, only to end up flat on my back, unable to move and staring helplessly at the ceiling.

"Cherry?" I heard Shay asking. "Cherry, are you ok?" But of course I was unable to answer him and two seconds later I heard an alarm sound and footsteps entering the room.

"Cherry," I heard Paddy gasp. "What happened Shay?"

"I don't know Paddy," I heard Shay's voice reply, sounding rather distressed. "She told me she couldn't speak and then just freaked."

"It's ok Shay," Doctor Parsons said gently, trying to comfort him and then he knelt down beside me. "Cherry?" he asked and I nodded. "I'm going to get you back into your wheelchair now and then get you back to your room. Is that ok?" I just nodded and reflected on how monotonous my 'conversations' were going to get if all I could do without the use of my whiteboard was shake and nod my head. As the doctors and nurse lifted me gently back into my wheelchair, I allowed a few tears to trickle down my cheek. Shay was looking at me miserably from the bed and as we caught each other's gaze, he mouthed 'I love you' and formed a heart shape with his fingers. I repeated the gesture before I was turned around and wheeled out of the room and across the corridor and back into my own. They were about to help me back into my bed but I stopped them, shaking my head, and pointing to my chair, implying that I would prefer to stay where I was and then pointing to the door, silently asking them to go out and leave me alone. They left the room and shut the door but I could still hear them speaking.

"We should never have left her alone with him," Paddy said angrily to Doctor Parsons. "I was afraid something like this might happen."

"It was what she wanted Paddy and besides, you can't smother your daughter - she clearly wanted some space." Doctor Parsons was clearly trying very hard to keep a level head. I must say I agreed with him. I loved my Dad very much but he did have a habit of being overprotective, perhaps because I was his only daughter by birth.

"Are you questioning my parenting skills?" Paddy asked, positively fuming now.

"Of course not," Doctor Parsons replied. "I'm merely saying that you need to give your daughter the space she needs to grow up."

"How dare you!" Paddy exclaimed and I heard footsteps walking away rather quickly. I could only guess that one or other of them had left before the argument could become too heated and I was left completely alone once more to stew over my thoughts.

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**I hope you all liked this chapter. I am hoping to have another one or possibly two out by then end of the day. Remember, I love it when you leave reviews and you know where the magic button is. I think I'm going to leave Cherry and Shay in hospital a little while longer. It'll give them time to recover (hopefully) and hopefully sometime to be with each other without even more drama. I think in the next chapter we'll see a bit more of Shay's father and possibly a bit of physio as Shay's father has been far too quiet considering the hot headed reputation he built for himself in Cherry Crush. So that could be a little more drama to look forward to. Anyway guys, you know what to do. READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW. :D**


	30. Chapter 30: LearningToFall

**So wow, I've actually reached 30 chapters and still going strong. I'd also like to celebrate reaching 44 reviews and I have a challenge for you as my readers - I would like to try and reach 50 reviews by Christmas. Do you think you can manage that for me? It would really be a great Christmas present. :D I hope you're all still enjoying Shay and Cherry's story as much as I am and I hope you continue to follow it. So this chapter follows Cherry's first physio session, encouraged all the while by none other than Shay of course and I think there may be complications though I won't tell you what as that would totally ruin the surprises I have in store for you. So yeah, you know the drill by now, READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW.**

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Chapter 30: Learning To Fall

About a week later, the hospital saw fit to start me on my physio sessions and I found myself in the hospital gym opposite my own personal physiotherapist (who just so happened to be a rather dreamy looking male). I had been down there for twenty minutes now and after listening to various explanations of how each machine worked my attention was starting to wonder. I was glad when he finally looked at me expectantly, implying that his prep talk was finished.

"Cherry," he sighed. "Were you listening to any of that?" I shook my head feeling only slightly guilty but then picking up my whiteboard with a small smile and writing on it.

_"I know that your name is Jamie." _I turned it around and smirked as he sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Ok then Cherry," he smiled at me. "Looks like I'll be explaining each one as we go along. I smiled gratefully at him for being so understanding. He wheeled me over to the first machine and I couldn't help but notice his muscly arms. I looked away quickly...I really shouldn't be thinking things like this when I have a boyfriend who is not only amazing and saved my life just a few days ago, but who is also watching right now. I forced the thoughts away from my mind and tried to concentrate fully on the grueling task ahead of me.

"This machine is going help improve the muscle strength in you legs. All you've got to do is set the weight - I'll do that for you today as I'm probably a better judge of what you can take at the moment - and then lift it in sets of five. You got that?" I nodded smiling. He smiled back gently. "We all want to help you Cherry, just remember that." I found myself getting lost in his gaze, his brown eyes, his tanned skin...and then remembered Shay again who was sitting just a few metres away and had cleared his throat. I tore myself away from his beautiful smile and allowed him to help me onto the machine, perhaps letting my mind think a little too much about his strong arms holding me but in quite a different way from the way he currently was...in fact in a very different way indeed. I shook my head, in an attempt to clear it of the unfaithful thoughts I seemed to have been unable to avoid since I entered the room and set eyes on Jamie. Shay coughed slightly and I looked over to see him frowning slightly. I smiled at him and he smiled back but his eyebrows remained creased as if something was wrong but he couldn't quite figure out what. Feeling slightly guilty I got to work on my first set of five.

Ten sets later I was starting to get bored and Jamie, seemingly able to cotton on to my mood, decided to try me on some small steps.

"Isn't it too soon?" Shay asked and sweet though his concern was, I couldn't help but feel faintly irritated. "It's only her first physio session."

"Normally I'd say yes but Cherry doesn't seem to have lost much leg strength. It's just an experiment and if it goes wrong, I'll be here to catch her and we'll go back to basics," Jamie said smiling in a friendly fashion but Shay sent him a look of pure annoyance in response. I sighed and picked up my whiteboard again.

_"Could you give me a moment alone with my boyfriend please Jamie?" _I wrote and looked at him pleadingly.

"Of course," he nodded at me and helped me into my chair. I wheeled myself over to Shay as Jamie left the room.

_"What's the matter Shay" _I asked.

"I don't like the way he looks at you Cherry," Shay stated simply and I rolled my eyes.

_"What do you mean?" _I scribbled down.

"I think he likes you."

_"Shay that's ridiculous. We met an hour ago and he's just my personal trainer. Besides Shay, I'm with you and I love you. You have nothing to worry about."_

"I guess," he sighed. "I just don't want to lose you to anyone, no matter how well toned they are." He winked at me, seemingly back to his old self and I kissed him enthusiastically on the mouth, feeling even more guilty about the inappropriate feelings and thoughts I'd been having towards Jamie, before Shay called him back in in order to resume my training. I had just taken a few tentative steps when I fell and Jamie caught me, just as he'd promised he had. He held me while I was catching my breath and that's when Mr. Fletcher entered - despite dating his son, I had never been allowed to call him anything else.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Shay asked, startled by his father's abrupt entrance.

"I've come to give her a piece of my mind," he spat jabbing a finger in my direction.


	31. Chapter 31: RetributionandRevenge

**So, I hope you all liked the cliffhanger I left you on there and don't hate me too much for it...I was going to write more but then decided it would be far more fun if I left it and let you all wait in suspense to hear what he has to say. I've reached 30 chapters now and I am actually so proud of myself. Shay and Cherry's story is one that I love very much, and I hope that you are all growing as fond of it as I am. I dread the day when I eventually have to call it a day for this fan-fiction and end it but I do have hopes for a sequel and don't worry, the end is not yet in sight as I still have many plans for them. Also, remember that I do want your suggestions as it is you, my readers, that I want to please. Remember at the end of chapter 30, which just so happened to be named after one of my favourite Love and Theft songs (if you haven't heard of them check them out on youtube - their music is AWESOME), Shays father stormed into Cherry's physiotherapy session accusing her of something or other. This chapter follows on from the last and could be pretty explosive. So yeah, you know the drill people: READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW.**

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Chapter 31: Retribution and Revenge

I was looking positively startled by this point and wondered what Mr. Fletcher could possibly be talking about. His cheeks seemed to be inflating and his shoulders swelling. I just kept on looking at him, completely perplexed.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?" he was looking at me like he was expecting me to say something in my defence. Clearly everyone had forgotten to mention to him that I was temporarily mute. This thought was backed up when two seconds later he proceeded to say, "wow I thought you'd at least say something to defend yourself. Clearly it is your fault."

"Umm...dad," Shay started but he was cut off.

"No, don't you dare try and defend her Shay. It's her fault you're like this and even she knows that, why do you think she won't even say anything in her defence."

"Umm...dad," he tried again. "Cherry can't speak."

"What," he said, thrown off course from his rant for just a split second. "Well then I come in here and find her in the arms of some random stranger, while you're sitting there watching. How can you justify that?"

"Dad!" Shay was appalled. "She's learning to walk and she tripped. Apologise to her now!" He cast a glance over at me, to see that my face was now streaked with tears.

"No way," he spat, his voice dripping with poison. "And you should watch your tone with me young man. I'm only standing up for you becasue you appear to be too stupid to do so yourself."

"Get out," Shay yelled. "Just get out before you upset my girlfriend any more!"

"As you wish," Mr Fletcher's voice was full of malice by this point. "But that girl will get what's coming for her and before too long you too will see that she's just a worthless waste of space." He then turned around and walked out of the door slamming it shut. I was shaking and Shay wheeled himself over to where I was still standing, enclosed in Jamie's arms. When he reached us, I collapsed onto his lap and allowed him to hold me while I sobbed into his chest.

"Your services are no longer required for today," Shay said, his cold words could only be directed at Jamie. "Could you open the door for us please." Jamie must have complied with his wishes as we were then going down the corridor at an incredible speed, and in no time at all we were back in Shay's hospital room. I didn't look up, just continued to cry into his chest and let him comfort me, for the guilt I was feeling was completely and utterly overwhelming. Mr Fletcher had been right. It was all my fault and there was no way that I was going to deny that when the evidence so clearly pointed out that I was to blame.


	32. Chapter 32: BeautifulNightmare

**So guys, do you think that Shay and Cherry's relationship is going to survive the thret that jamie seems to bring? Or will it be the end? At the moment Cherry is clearly torn between the two but I think at this point her feelings for Jamie are more of a hero worship thing as he is twenty and she is only fourteen. So yeah, also, I wanted to ask another question. What would you like Charlotte and Paddy's wedding to be like? I have a few ideas but I also want to try and incorporate a few of yours if I deem them suitable as, like I have said many times before, you are my readers and it is all of you who I am trying to please. I am trying my hardest to talk about every aspect of Shay and Cherry's life but obviously there are going to be some parts I forget to cover. So if there are certain things you specifically want to read about you MUST let me know. I introduced Jamie, mainly because I think it would be boring if Shay and Cherry were solid as a rock throughout the whole thing. This is not how relationships work in real life when you are of the same age as they are meant to be and I am trying to make this as realistic as possible. One last question now before I launch into the next chapter, would you like anything to happen between Cherry and Jamie, and if so, what? Oh and just one last thing, the italics at the beginning of this chapter are a dream. I will make this clear but just in case any of you get a little confused, I thought I would give you advance warning. But yeah guys, I should probably get on with the next chapter now so READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW.**

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Chapter 32: Beautiful Nightmare

_I walked through the hospital corridors searching for something though for the life of me I couldn't remember what. I felt like a part of me had gotten lost somehow and that if I searched hard enough I would find it. I went from room to room, waking up sleeping patients and getting more and more confused, wondering what I could possibly have lost that was causing me so much distress. Suddenly, the lights all went out and I screamed, the sudden plunge into pitch black darkness scaring me. I stayed where I was for a second, sobbing and wailing so loud that my head began to hurt and cowering, hiding my head beneath my arms and attempting to cover my ears with my hands in order to try and block out the dreadful noise that was coming from my mouth. But I couldn't block out the noise because I was the one making it. Grinding my teeth in frustration, there was a momentary pause in the noise and the corridor was suddenly filled with a beautiful and yet blindingly bright light. I looked up, tearing my eyes away from the ground and gasped as an angel came striding towards me. As the angel came closer, I realised it was not angel but it was in fact Jamie. He stopped i front of me and offered me his hand._

_"Cherry," he said. "Come with me, I know what you are looking for and where to find it." I took his outstretched hand and he pulled me up. I started to walk forwards but he swept me up in his arms. It was then that I noticed the wings protruding from his back and I gasped in admiration as they began to flutter and lifted us both up to hover just a short distance above the floor._

_"Where can I get wings like that?" I asked, marvelling at the pure beauty, completely captivated by the sight before me. I reached out to touch them but he pulled my hand away fiercely. _

_"If you touch, we will fall," he said. "And before we can fall, we must reach our destination." I nodded and he seemed to remember my earlier question, continuing to say, "you must earn your wings." I was completely bemused. Jamie seemed only to be talking in riddles and i didn't like it. It made me feel uneasy and the feeling scared me slightly._

_"You said that you knew what I was looking for but how can you? Even I have no idea myself." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a heart. I retched._

_"What do you mean? Why am I looking for some heart?" I asked but I knew the answer long before he voiced it._

_"This is not just any old heart Cherry. This is your own." I think I almost screamed...I definitely opened my mouth ready to do so but before I could make a sound, his lips covered mine and he was kissing me, just like I'd imagined. But the kiss felt wrong at the same time as feeling right and there was something strange that I could not quite put my finger on. As I got more and more caught up in the kiss though I put my reservations aside and my hands started to reach up his back and latched onto his wings. And suddenly we were falling, falling, falling. Slowly drifting down, down, down._

I woke with a start, sweating and shaking from the horror of my dream. It was one of the worst nightmares I had ever had and yet for some reason I was almost sad that it had ended. It had been a beautiful nightmare after all, and I realised then that that was all Jamie was - a beautiful nightmare that was threatening to steal my heart and any hope I had of a normal life, the one that I had been longing for for so long, the one with Shay.

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**I hope you enjoyed this chapter even if it was a bit creepy. I don't know what inspired it really...I guess I just figured out that I had never done a dream chapter and decided to give it a go. What did you think and are there any ways I could improve it. If so you know what to do - just drop me a review. Anyway: READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW.**


	33. Chapter 33: ResistingTemptation

**So, how did you all like my 'dream chapter'. I hope it wasn't too weird because I've never actually written out a dream before. I would like to thank Violet-Revenge for reviewing again and also giving me some of the answers to my questions that I asked in previous author notes. It means a lot that some people actually pay attention to what I ask. Also, tell Darby that the bits she finds sexual are...well they're just not supposed to be meant in that way so I think she has problems ;). Haha just kidding. So yeah...I'm not really entirely sure where this chapter is going so I'm just gonna improvise and hope for the best. You know what to do: READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW.**

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Chapter 33: Resisting Temptation

The dream from the previous night had shaken me but it was clear what the dream had meant. I had to steer clear of Jamie before I let him wreck my pretty much perfect relationship with Shay. This was something I couldn't let happen. Shay was the best thing that had ever happened to me and I would be stupid to let anything or anyone ruin our relationship. So, the second it was deemed a suitable hour to be awake (any earlier and the nurses would tell the doctors I needed treatment for insomnia as well as my numerous other issues), I called for help and asked, with the use of my whiteboard, if I could change physiotherapist. When asked why, I didn't get him into trouble and merely said that I would feel more comfortable having a female one. This seemed like a safe bet as I was fairly sure that I was straight so there could be no risk of falling for a female physiotherapist.

I visited Shay again in the morning to tell him the news.

"You didn't have to do that Cherry. I told you, I trust you," he said but he looked genuinely happy and I didn't blame him. I didn't trust myself around Jamie and it was a wonder that I had managed to persuade Shay that he could. I couldn't even seem to help it...every time I thought of Jamie's brown eyes, his fair hair, his tanned skin...well my legs just seemed to melt like ice cream on a warm summers day. It had been completely necessary to change physiotherapist, for my will power was not yet strong enough to resist the temptation that seemed to come attached to Jamie.

"Cherry," Shay's voice brought me back out of my reverie and I started. "You were in a world of your own then, what were you thinking?"

_"Nothing important." _I wrote and he looked at me questioningly. _"Just thinking about how much I still have to do...all the physiotherapy and speech lessons and stuff."_ His expression cleared and he smiled at me.

"Cherry, everything's going to be ok. I promise," he said, pulling me into a warm hug. I hugged him back and he gently kissed my hair. I turned my face up towards him and he captured my lips with his own. I licked his lips and he let my tongue enter his mouth. I breathed in his scent trying not to hyperventilate as I remembered how much I used to enjoy this before I got stuck in the hospital. His hand reached up my shirt and my breath quickened. I pulled his shirt over his head, only breaking off the kisses for a couple of seconds. He pulled me over, further onto the bed so we were lying side by side. I couldn't help thinking of Jamie though as I was lying there on the bed with Shay, wondering what it would be like if I were lying here with him instead. I tried to shake the thoughts from my mind but for some reason I just couldn't. There was something about the idea that seemed especially enticing. Maybe it was just because he was out of bounds...someone I couldn't have. Maybe not. Maybe I just had a wish for self destruction because that was all that Jamie was - a means to self destruct. But still even the idea of being with Jamie made me feel excited. Oh dear, now it sounded like I was turning into an adrenaline junky...which I wasn't mind. Shay and I sprung apart as someone cleared their throat.

"Hey," Charlotte said when we had turned to face her, all of us looking rather awkward and embarrassed. "Paddy and I have been talking a lot recently, and we decided that we wanted to bring the wedding forward."

"That's great," Shay said and I beamed in order to show my appreciation, giving her a thumbs up.

"Also...I kind of have some more news," she said looking rather sheepish at the same time as looking very pleased with herself. I looked at her questioningly and she went on. "Cherry, Shay, Paddy and I are having a baby." My mouth dropped open in surprise and suddenly Charlotte looked worried. "I know the family's already pretty big...but it wouldn't be so bad would it? Having a new baby sister or brother." I just shook my head, completely bemused by the unexpected turn of events. "That's all I really had to say, so I'll leave you both in peace again." She was looking slightly worried and upset now and I realised I'd completely forgotten to congratulate her. I picked up my whiteboard and began to scribble frantically.

_"Congratulations Charlotte. I'd be thrilled to have a new sibling." _I smiled at her to show I really was being sincere and she gave me a shy smile in return.

"Thanks Cherry," she said. "It means a lot to have your support." She then went out of the room and Shay and I went back to our make-out session but my mind really wasn't on it...all I could think about was Jamie and how inconvenient having a new sibling would be at this moment in time.

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**Gonna be honest, this was not my best chapter...the whole time I was writing it I was pretty much trying to work out where I wanted to go. As a result...well it didn't really end up going anywhere. Still I hope you all enjoyed reading it more than I enjoyed writing it. What do you think about Charlotte's pregnancy? And what sex do you want the baby to be? Do you want it to follow the trend of girls...or do you want it to be a boy just to shake things up a bit. Well I hope you get back to me in a review or I'll have to take matters into my own hand and who knows what will happen then...I do have an interesting idea which I may put into action but I won't tell you what it is because that would ruin some of the amazing surprises I have planned for you. So yeah you know the drill people: READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW.**


	34. Chapter 34: AGuiltyConscience

**Before I commence with this chapter, I would like to make a special shout out carleylovesbluecola who has recently started reading my story and has already reviewed it. If you remind me when November is over I would certainly love toy review your story but November's a really busy time with National Novel Writing Month and college and stuff but absolutely I would love to review your story. Also Sobia, do not worry, Shay and Cherry will end up together...there's just something that will happen first in order to make the story a) realistic and b) a little more interesting. But don't worry, I promise that Shay and Cherry will end up toigether and that all will be restored to it's rightful place in the end, I just don't think it would be realistic to have Shay and Cherry's relationship solid as a rock throughout the whole thing, but I think that Jamie will be seen as a mistake. So yeah not much else to say in this review other than apologise for my last rather mediocre chapter again. :P So yeah guys, READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW. :D**

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Chapter 34: A Guilty Conscience

In the end I went back to my room - I couldn't focus on anything with the distraction of Charlotte's recent bombshell and Jamie. As I wheeled myself across the corridor, I heard someone crying and, naturally being curious, I went to investigate. I found a door open just a little way on down the hall and I peered in to see a little girl that couldn't have been any more than eight or nine crying on a bed. She looked up and I quickly pulled my head out of sight.

"What's your name?" the young child called out and tentatively, I wheeled myself into the room. "What's your name," she repeated herself again and I picked up my whiteboard.

_"My name's Cherry, what's yours?"_

"Helen," she said and then asked in a curious voice. "Why aren't you speaking?"

_"Because I can't." _

"What do you mean?" she asked. "Everyone can speak, don't be silly." I felt like hitting her, but then I remembered that she wasn't very old and restrained myself.

_"I can't."_

"But why? Didn't you ever learn how?" I sighed at her last question.

_"I can't speak because I was involved in an accident." _Her face fell at this last sentence and I almost missed what she mumbled next.

"Oh like my mummy then...except apparently she's not here anymore." I was suddenly filled with pity for this girl as it became apparent as to why she had been crying.

_"I'm sorry to hear that." _I wrote and I genuinely was. No matter how hopeless my situation seemed at least both Shay and I were still alive. She just turned away from me though and it became clear that she had said all that she was going to. I slowly wheeled myself back out of her room and along the corridor, back into my own. I opened the door and froze in shock for there, waiting for me on my hospital bed was Jamie. And Jamie didn't look happy, he did not look happy at all.

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**Yeah, yeah, I know this chapter was a little rubbish and exceptionally short but I promise the next one will be longer...though I wouldn't hold me to that promise because I basically improvise as I go along, which is pretty much seriously difficult and probably just a little stupid of me. But hey, that's just the way I roll so don't shoot me for it. What do you think Jamie wants and how do you think he reacted to Cherry changing physiotherapists? Will he be angry? Or merely disappointed? Also, what do you think about Helen? Gonna be honest this chapter was really just a filler, and not even a very good one at that. I really really hope you all enjoyed reading this even though I don't think much of it because essentially, it is what you think that matters. So anyway guys, enough of my waffle: READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW!**


	35. Chapter 35: AndSoItStarts

**So anyway, I hop that this chapter will be a little better than the last and also of course, that something will actually happen in it. I was wondering, if you wanted me to include Helen in any future chapters and if so, how? I'm thinking of introducing Jamie Finch at some point as well just for something else to write about, and also to perhaps bring Skye more into the story...and of course because I actually love the character of Jamie Finch. Also, I think after this, I AM going to write a sequel, but I am also going to write a Skye T/Jamie F fanfic because I think it would make a kind of cute story and I'd be able to develop Jamie's character more as in Marshmallow Skye, Cathy Cassidy didn't get very far with developing him. If I wrote one for them, would any of you read it? Anyway, for now I am content with continuing with this story so I needn't worry about that quite yet. Anyhow, at the end of the last chapter, Cherry found Jamie on her hospital bed so I will continue from there. You know what to do: READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW.**

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Chapter 35: And So It Starts

I hesitated at the door and I think he could see I was reticent to enter as he slowly got up off of the bed and walked over to me. When he reached me, he wheeled me into he room and shut the door. I looked warily at him as he pushed me over to the bed, each step he took was purposeful and the slapping of his feet against the cold tiled floor seemed to loud for the little room. I reached for my whiteboard and began to write, taking great care when picking my words.

_"Jamie, I think you should leave." _I tried but he seemed to ignore me. I tried shoving the whiteboard into his face to get him to take notice but he merely swept it aside and I flinched as the loud clatter it made when it came into contact with the floor resounded around the room.

"We need to talk," he spat at me and I just nodded meekly. "Why did you ask to change physiotherapist?" he asked. His voice sounded furious but I could see from his eyes that he was disappointed and hurt more than angry. He seemed to be waiting for something and then I realised that I hadn't answered. I pointed to the whiteboard, which he hadn't bothered picking up from the floor and, remembering that I could no longer speak, he picked it up and thrust it fiercely into my hands.

_"I think you know why, Jamie." _He rolled his eyes.

"I wouldn't be asking you if I knew," he muttered darkly. "Would I?" I shrugged.

_"I guess not."_

"Well go on then, why did you do it Cherry? Was I not good enough? Did I not keep things professional despite thinking you were attractive? Did I-" But I cut him off when I turned my board around again.

_"You what?" _I think it was only then that he realised what he'd actually said and covered his mouth with his hand.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what I was saying then...I just caught up in the moment and you should probably forget everything I just said," he babbled, looking flustered, but then, seeming to realise the hole he'd dug himself into added, "but just for the record, just in case I had said what you thought I said, do you...well do you think I'm attractive Cherry?" He peered shyly at me from under his blonde velvety fringe. I don't know why I did it, but I nodded. I didn't even need to pick up my whiteboard then. He pulled me up into his arms and lowered him onto the bed, licking my lips vigorously with his tongue, hungrily nibbling at my ear. I made just one feeble attempt to push him away before my will power crumbled. Seeming to know what I wanted to say he pulled away for just a second.

"I know you're worried about that loser boyfriend of yours...but I can give you so much more Cherry and besides, what Shay doesn't know won't hurt him."

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**I know not all of you wanted this to happen but really it was inevitable...I know I left you all on a bit of a cliffhanger there but don't worry, the next chapter is already on it's way. You all know by now what I want you to do...REVIEW. I'd like to thank Violet-Revenge once again for continuing to not only read and review Cherry Crushed, but is also actually paying attention to the questions I ask in the authors notes and bothering to answer. It means a lot that some people like to read this nonsense. ) I would also like to thank Sobia for doing the same. It really does mean a lot to me guys and it means that I try to get chapters out quicker for you all. Anyway, enough said for now: READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW. :D **


	36. Chapter 36: FloatingUpToHeaven

**Well guys, I'm beginning to think I underestimated you with that challenge of 50 reviews before the 25th December, as it is only the 22nd November and I already have 49 reviews. Seeing as I seem to have made it to easy, shall we raise the target and make it 55 reviews before Christmas It really would mean a lot to me, especially as I have been trying so hard to keep updating for you alongside 5 A levels, a GCSE in Italian and the college magazine, on top of various music clubs and kayaking. So I'm sure you will have no trouble rewarding me with a few extra reviews for that really is all the payment I require in order to keep writing. I know I've already said this a dozen times but I think I will say it again, just to make sure it really sinks in properly, your reviews are what keep me going and I love to keep writing for people who take a little time out of their day in return and post a review for me. It really does make my day. Well anyway, enough waffle for now, I think it's about time I got on with the actual chapter so READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW! :D**

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Chapter 36: Floating Up To Heaven

And just like that all sense of reality crumbled away. I was skyrocketing away from the earth and floating up to heaven. I didn't think for a second about the fact that the guy of my dreams was chasing away the love of my life, because in my mind all of my sense seemed to be chased away whenever I was around Jamie. He brought out the reckless side in me and there was something in me, buried deep down that liked that. Not that I didn't like the security that came with being in a relationship with Shay...it's just that the danger of a fling with Jamie was something I had never experienced before. It was new and exciting and I liked that feeling. I guess I could also say that I liked feeling desired...I had never had any sort of male attention back in Glasgow but now, everything seemed to be happening so quickly.

He moved his body gently up and down, pressing himself against me, his hands wondering all over my body. I vaguely remember feeling slightly guilty as I was cheating on Shay...and I had never planned to do that. Shay was lovely but Jamie just made me feel like a whole new person, made me feel like someone I'd never been before. He made me feel like I was exciting. Ever since I'd lost my speech I'd felt like a corpse, someone who was living life looking through a window from the outside but Jamie made me feel alive again.

"You're a good kisser Cherry," he commented smirking slightly and something about his expression bothered me but I pushed down the feelings of doubt and kept on kissing him just like he clearly wanted me to. I was amazed at how something could feel so right and yet so wrong at the same time. For some reason though, what I'd wanted to happen for so long was suddenly feeling more and more like it shouldn't happen...whenever I was with Shay, he would always tell me how beautiful I was. Jamie had never said any such thing. But at the same time, kissing Jamie just felt so good and it was probably the guilt I was feeling towards Shay that made me uneasy about the whole thing, not what I was actually doing, so for a few seconds I forgot about Shay and focused all of my energy on the task at hand. I realised that at the age of twenty, Jamie was almost definitely more experienced than Shay and I guess that made me even more enthralled by him and even more curious to know what he was doing with a girl like me. Before long, he started to try and undress me but that was where I drew the line. It had taken me months to sleep with Shay and I wasn't about to sleep with this stranger after three days of knowing him. Aside from all else, I still had some conscience remaining and I couldn't do that to Shay, not yet. I couldn't stoop that low.

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**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, especially Violet-Revenge who has been willing for something to happen between Cherry and Jamie. I hope I did this chapter justice and that you all liked reading it. I'm not entirely sure at the moment what else is going to happen between them, if anything. Obviously I want Shay and Cherry to end up together in the end. They have been through so much together that it would be churlish to have it any other way. I hope you are all eagerly awaiting the next chapter but until then: READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW.**


	37. Chapter 37: UrgesandPlans

**I hope you guys don't hate me too much for making something happen between Jamie and Cherry - and if you do, don't worry. I highly doubt it will be permanent as even my brain isn't that messed up so do not fret and just be patient. All will be restored to it's rightful place in the end. Thanks very much to Sobia who has continued to review even though I guess my last two chapters weren't quite up to my usual standard. It means a lot and also, don't worry about Cherry and Jamie, they are going to end soon...just not quite yet because I do have a plan for what is to happen. In this chapter, I am going to continue Cherry's fling with Jamie, I hope you all like it. So anyway: READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW.**

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Chapter 37: Urges and Plans

Over the next few weeks I settled into a very weird and yet somewhat satisfying routine that involved both Jamie and Shay, for I needed them both, just in slightly different ways. Shay, well I loved him. he was my rock, the one person that had always been there for me and would continue to be there until the day I died (unless my unfaithfulness from the past few weeks were revealed to him). Jamie, on the other hand, well let's get this straight - I definitely don't love him. He merely fulfilled the urges in my life that depended wholly on excitement. I guess that was what made me feel even more guilty for betraying Shay. I wanted to stop, I really did but there was something about Jamie's muscly build that made me unable to resist temptation every time I found him there, sitting on my hospital bed in the dark. And there was something about the way his experienced hands touched me that made me unwilling to let it end. Something deep within me knew there was something wrong about the way he looked at me. There was no way in the real world that Jamie, who was twenty, would be interested in a fourteen year old like me but even this fact could not deter me from hooking up with him almost every night.

Jamie had not once told me that he loved me, not like Shay who made me aware of his love every time he saw me. This did not bother me though as I didn't love him either and I knew it was selfish to want any more from him than I was giving. I may be many things, but I was not yet selfish. I had also refused to sleep with Jamie because I thought that was one thing that should be kept just for Shay. Also, I had always associated it with love and so I kept faithful to Shay at least in that respect.

It was soon to be Shay's birthday, and seeing as we were both going to be spending it in the hospital, I wanted to make it as special as I possibly could. That also meant that I would not be seeing Jamie on that day. Seeing him would be the ultimate betrayal to Shay and I still had some of my conscience left intact. Maybe not very much but enough to not see Jamie on his birthday. I spent a lot of time with Charlotte and Paddy over the next few days, trying to organise something for him that wouldn't be too tiring but would still be special.

"Well what do you think he'd want Cherry?" Charlotte asked a week before his birthday. "You know him best."

_"I'm not really sure,"_ I wrote biting my lip. _"We could ask the hospital if we could take him out for the day and take him out for a meal?"_ Charlotte was shaking her head even as I was saying it though.

"It's a lovely idea Cherry it really is, I'm just not sure if the hospital would let us though. I guess we could always ask."

_"Don't worry about it,"_ I scribbled quickly but I was disappointed because I knew that what Shay wanted more than anything was to get out of the hospital, even if only for a couple of hours.

_"How are the wedding plans coming on?"_ I asked them, wanting a change of topic as the current one was depressing me somewhat.

"Yeah very well thanks. As soon as you're out of the hospital we're going to go shopping for brides and bridesmaid dresses," Charlotte smiled as my face lit up. It was ages since I'd been shopping and I had never owned a really pretty dress before.

_"No pressure or anything,"_ I joked and she chuckled.

"No of course not Cherry. Just concentrate on recovering in your own time, the wedding can wait as long as we need it to. Also," she looked at Paddy and he nodded indicating for her to go on, "well I don't have any parents so it's not like my dad can give me away. We were wondering if you would mind if I asked Shay to give me away as he's practically part of the family anyway." I beamed.

_"I think that's a wonderful idea." _ I really meant it - it would mean a lot to him and give him something to look forward to for when he was finally recovered and out of hospital. Charlotte laughed at my enthusiasm.

"Well I'll ask him in the morning then. Anyway, we'd better get you back to your room before you stay out after your curfew," she exclaimed suddenly, looking at the time. "I promise we'll think more about Shay's birthday. Would you like us to walk you back?" I shook my head straight away, my mind immediately imagining the expressions of their faces if they walked me back and found Jamie in my room.

_"It's just down the corridor,"_ I wrote in my scruffy handwriting. _ "I should be fine."_ I smiled at them as I left the room and made my way carefully back to my room with the aid of my crutches. I was easily able to walk without them by now but I got incredibly tired and Doctor Parson's had said it would be better to wean me off of them slowly so for now I was forced to keep using them. I was determined to be rid of them by Shay's birthday though as I knew that would be something for him to really smile about. I reached my door and opened it to see, as I'd expected, Jamie sprawled across my bed. I quickly shut the door and let him take me into his arms, kissing him hungrily, my arms wandering all over his toned body. I reached up his shirt to place a hand on his six pack and he returned the gesture, rolling us over so he was on top of me. He started sucking on my neck but I pushed his head away quickly - I certainly did not want any evidence for Shay to find - and he began to nibble on my ear, sucking me even further into his world of lies and deceit. There was a knock on my door at that moment and I think my heart stopped beating. I couldn't get caught...not like this. I shoved him off my bed and he landed lightly on his feet. He answered the door after we'd both taken a few seconds to sort ourselves out.

"Oh sorry, I thought this was my sister's room," I heard Coco's voice drift through the door.

"Is your sister Cherry?" Jamie asked and I could just imagine Coco nodding. "Yes Cherry's in here and you can come in if you want - I was just leaving."

"Who are you?" Coco asked.

"I was her physiotherapist but she changed to someone else so I was just coming to see how she was getting on with her new one," he replied quickly and I thanked God silently under my breath that he was such a good liar.

"Ok," Coco seemed to buy the story but when Jamie opened the door, I could see that her expression was slightly suspicious and I tried hard to swallow down the guilty lump gathering in my throat. As Jamie left the room, she gave him a cold look that I would never have believed possible to be seen on her face. She slammed the door shut behind him.

"I thought you'd be asleep," she said. Sighing, I picked up my whiteboard and started writing.

_"I was until people kept coming in."_

"Do you want me to leave then?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

_"Of course not Coco, it's great to see you again."_

"Yeah, and you Cherry, I was just surprised to see him here. Shay hates him you know," she said beginning to warm to me. I rolled my eyes.

_"I know, why do you think I changed physiotherapists? He has nothing to be worried about though." _ I lied. I think she could see from my face though that there was something wrong because she looked slightly concerned.

"Are you sure you're alright Cherry?" Coco asked. "You just seem like there's something wrong."

_"I'm fine, just tired._"

"I'll leave then," she said. "I can always come back in the morning?"

_"No don't leave. Stay with me until I fall asleep."_ I don't know why I asked her to but I guess I just wanted some company that didn't confuse me so much. She sighed.

"Ok Cherry, I'm right here," she said, putting a hand gently on mine while I drifted into an uneasy sleep full of dreams about Shay and Jamie and I could only hope that I wasn't sleep talking at all.

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**So, I hope you all liked this chapter as much as I did. What do you think of them almost being caught and how much do you think Coco suspects? Or do you think she merely doesn't like Jamie and so is suspicious of him rather than of what the two of them may be doing together? I also would like to ask you all how you think Cherry and Jamie should be found out? I have an idea but it's really cruel on everyone involved. Having said that...it is the sort of thing that could happen so I think I might do it and just hope you don't all hate me too much for it. I hope you liked the fact that this chapter was a bit longer again...I think we have been long awaiting a nice long chapter for you to feast your eyes on. Anyway, enough said for now - I will upload another chapter as soon as possible so until then: READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW.**


	38. Chapter 38: BirthdayBane

**So, you guys are all gonna hate me after this chapter but I hope you will all keep reading regardless as I do promise to make sure that Shay and Cherry are ok in the end...it just may be a little while off. But there is one thing I can promise you...these next few chapters are gonna be pretty explosive and quite possibly upsetting for many people (including for me to write). :( But on the plus side, they should be pretty interesting to read and hopefully (if I write them well) pretty enjoyable. So it's definitely something to look forward to. The reaction I'm going for is tears...however, I've never been able to reduce people to tears through my writing so I won't hold my breath. :P Anyway, you know what I want you to do right now: READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW.**

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Chapter 38: Birthday Bane

In the end, Paddy and Charlotte organised a surprise for both me and Shay and I waited eagerly until the day to find out. I was down in Shay's room all day, and everyone, even the nurses, just left us to it. I'd been to some more speech therapy sessions and I was now able to string a few words together, albeit with difficulty. I hadn't let Shay know this though, I really wanted to surprise him on his birthday and I thought that to him, this would be the best birthday present of all.

"Happy birthday Shay," I managed to stutter and I watched in delight as his eyes opened in surprise and he started to beam at me.

"You can speak!" he exclaimed and I nodded. "For how long?" he asked and he grabbed my hand.

"About four days but I'm not c-c-con," I looked at the floor, embarrassed that I was struggling over the word confident but he chipped in helpfully with the right word and I nodded as he hooked a finger under my chin and pulled my face up so I was looking him in the eyes.

"I understand," he said gently and then continued, "but this is the best birthday present ever." He then pulled me over on top of him and we spent the rest of the morning kissing. I wished I was more confident with talking but my speech therapist had said that awful cliche 'practice makes perfect' before bundling me back into my room and insisting I'd done enough work for today. I was all for easing myself back into things slowly but I was afraid that if I did any less work on my speech, I would never be able to talk properly again. I still had no idea what surprise Paddy and Charlotte had planned for us and I was eagerly waiting in anticipation, possibly even more excited than Shay.

At around half twelve, there was a knock on our door and we both sat up and made ourselves presentable.

"Do you want to do the honours?" Shay asked me winking and I nodded.

"C-come in," I called out as loud as I could manage. My jaw dropped when Jamie walked in, all dressed up in a waiter's suit and carrying a picnic hamper.

"What are you doing here?" Shay spat out, looking suspiciously at me, my jaw still half way to the ground.

"I'm your waiter for today, I hope you enjoy your meal," he replied completely professionally, whilst throwing wistful glances in my direction. Shay noticed the glances and threw a look in my direction but thankfully not before I had managed to compose a more acceptable (in my eyes) expression on my face. I shrugged at him, letting him know silently that I had had no idea that Jamie would be here. As soon as he looked back around, I glared at Jamie, asking him with my eyes why he was our waiter.

"Can you two please stop glaring at me?" he complained. "I'm only doing my job here." But both Shay and I knew very well that he was not here 'just doing his job'. I had thought he'd seemed a little funny when I'd told him I wouldn't be seeing him today...I guess now I knew why. He'd had this planned out for ages but I was determined not to let him ruin Shay's birthday so I opened the hamper, which he had placed in from of us by this point, and began looking through the food. I had already made up my mind that I would ignore Jamie. It was not fair that he had turned up here today when he had known it would make things uncomfortable but ultimately, it was my fault and I chastised myself for ever allowing the fling with Jamie to commence.

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**So, this is just the start of Shay's birthday and it will be continued in the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. What do you think of Cherry learning to speak again? Was it too soon? And what do you think of Jamie being their waiter? I thought that was an interesting twist to put in and also one that is wholly necessary for the next few chapters. I would like to thank Llamalover99 for reviewing again - and don't worry you will find out how they are found out pretty soon. I hope I do the next few chapters justice for you and all my other readers. Anyway, enough said for now and anyhows, I need to get on with the next chapter so: READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW. :D **


	39. Chapter 39: WhatADisaster!

**So yeah here's my next chapter, still on Shay's birthday and this is gonna be a pretty depressing chapter so beware. I ope you all like it and don't hate me too much afterwards as I think it is necessary. A special thanks once again to Llamalover99 who has reviewed TWICE today...such dedication to my story is actually touching and so in a way this chapter is dedicated to you in thanks, so I hope you especially enjoy it. :) (Or not enjoy it necessarily as it's supposed to be pretty depressing but you get the idea). :P Anyway, if I'm gonna get this out today, I had better get writing so READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW. :D**

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Chapter 39: What A Disaster!

After a while, as I had suspected, being in the same room as both Shay and Jamie got to be too much for me and I excused myself briefly for a quick toilet break. After the amount of food I had eaten it would only have been a matter of time anyway. I walked slowly along the corridor, still aided by my crutches, and when I reached the ladies room, I started hyperventilating. What the hell was Jamie doing, turning up like this? He knew it would unnerve me. Was he actually trying to ruin my relationship. I silently scolded myself as I realised that it wasn't Jamie that was destroying my relationship, but actually myself. I made a pact with myself that my thing with Jamie, whatever it was, would stop today. Whatever else I did with my life, I couldn't be unfaithful to Shay any longer. It wasn't fair on him, especially when he had been so lovely to me and so supportive, helping me through every stage of my recovery. After cleaning myself up a bit, I went back outside, meaning to go back to the picnic but stopped in my tracks when I saw who was waiting for me. Jamie was standing outside, propped up against the wall by his elbow.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" I asked, the look he was giving me sending shivers sprinting down my spine and this time it wasn't in a good way.

"Oh don't be like that Cherry, don't you want to see me?" he smirked, flicking his fringe out of his face.

"W-w-w-we're through Jamie," I stuttered. "W-we can't see each other an-ny more." Jamie's face fell and suddenly he looked furious.

"What do you mean we can't see each other any more? Does what we have mean nothing to you?" I hesitated biting my lip.

"I don't th-think 'what we have' means anything to eith-ther of us," I stammered and cowered against the wall, fearing his reaction but when someone started yelling, it wasn't Jamie.

"What's going on here?" Shay shouted and when I looked up, he was looking from me to Jamie, his eyes filling with tears. The his gaze stopped on me and he whispered, "Cherry, tell me I'm jumping to the wrong conclusion...tell me it's not true." I couldn't even bring myself to look him in the eye.

"I'm s-so sorry Shay, I never meant t-to hurt you." I was starting to cry now, scared that I may be about to lose Shay for good.

"You never meant to hurt me? You never meant to hurt me?" his voice rose each time he said it. "How could you not mean to hurt me Cherry? You were sleeping with him for heaven's sake. How could you do this to me?"

"We never slept t-together I s-swear Shay," I mumbled, catching his eye so he'd know I was telling the truth. He looked away refusing to catch my gaze for more than a few seconds, his expression not softening even a little bit at the sight of the tears streaming down my face. I didn't blame him, I felt like such a cow. How could I have ever believed I would get away with it? How could I have ever been so stupid? Slowly he began to walk away. I caught hold of his arm, tugging him back but he just shook me away.

"Shay, please," I sobbed. "I don't want to lose you."

"Well you should have thought about that beforehand then, shouldn't you?" And with that he turned and walked away.

"Shay!" I screamed after him but he didn't look back, and just kept walking, ignoring the muffled sobs coming from my mouth.

"Cherry," Jamie said, touching my arm. I had forgotten he was still there. I threw his hand off of me with so much force it went smack against the wall.

"How dare you!" I spat at him. "My r-relationship has j-j-just fallen ap-part because of you."

"I hate to break this to you Cherry but it takes two to tango," he was smirking again.

"Gah," I gasped and began to stagger away. I didn't know where I was going, just that it was far away from, Jamie, the hospital, and my relationship that had just been completely and utterly destroyed, mainly through my own fault. I staggered down the stairs and towards the reception, ignoring the receptionist completely as they called out to me. As I went out of the main doors, the cold, night air hit me like an electric shock. I gasped as it penetrated my lungs and left me temporarily winded. It had been ages since I'd breathed in fresh air - I'd spent too long in the cool, air conditioned hospital climate. I took a quick look around and slowly began to stagger towards the taxi station nearby. I had no money, but maybe someone would take pity on me and take me as far away from here as I could possibly get. I was so miserable and I knew that there was no way anyone would forgive me after this. I had wrecked everything. How could anyone possibly forgive me when I would never forgive myself? I staggered across the road without looking where I was going and something slammed into me with such force I could not scream and was knocked backwards into something else. I tried to open my eyes but it just seemed like too much effort and I felt as if something was weighing me down. I could not move, I could not breath but I didn't care, I had lost the love of my life today and nothing mattered anymore.

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**I hope you all liked this chapter and didn't find it too heavy. I rushed it a bit but I'm actually pleased with the finished result for a change and I hope you all are too. :) I also hope you don't hate me too much and all forgive me for making Shay find out on his birthday but it was at the end of his birthday so I guess that makes it semi-acceptable. So anyway until the next time: READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW.**


	40. Chapter 40: NoSympathyandAmnesia

**So, how did you all find the last chapter...I hope you enjoyed it even if it was a bit depressing. I know that it was cruel, Shay finding out about Jamie and Cherry on his birthday but it seemed sort of necessary at the time and let's face it, that is the sort of thing that would happen so I was only being realistic. Anyway, I hope you all understand the necessity of my actions and don't hate me too much for it and of course, I hope that you all continue to read. Although things seem bleak right now, I promise that they will get better in the end...I mean there's only so many chapters I can write with Shay being mad at Cherry when it is essentially a romantic fan-fiction. For now though, you're just going to have to bear with me and see where this novel takes them, as they can't make up too quickly for fear of Shay seeming like a push over. Also, I do kind of have a plan for how they 'make up' and with a bit of luck I'll pull it off and you will all like it. Cherry getting hit by a car at the end of the last chapter will have been a major set back for her recovery and I hope you will all be interested to see the extent to which it has affected her, and also, how it will affect everyones feelings towards her. Obviously, after she cheated on Shay with Jamie they are all going to be upset but will any of them be sympathetic towards her? Well anyway, I'm hardly about to tell you all these answers in the authors note as that would ruin the story so if you really are curious, you know what to do: READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW.**

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Chapter 40: No Sympathy and Amnesia

When I awoke at last, I felt uncomfortable and the one face that was staring down at me, was one of the faces I least expected to see - Jiangs. It took me a few moments to register the needles sticking into my arm and when I finally did I tried to pull them out with my hand, hating the feeling of them all sticking into me. But I couldn't move my hand. For some reason, it felt all heavy, as did the rest of my body. I started to panic and as I began to hyperventilate, Jiang looked down. He raised an eyebrow when he saw I was awake. I tried to remember why I was here, or indeed anything that had happened over the last few days but for some reason my mind seemed blank. Any memories I should have had seemed to have been erased from my brain. I wondered why the expression on his face as he was looking at me was cold and blank but I couldn't think of any plausible explanation.

"Why did you do it Cherry?" Jiang snapped at me and I started. What had I done? And to who? Something was not right. I tried to remember what it could possibly be that I had done that was so wrong but for some reason, my mind did not seem to want to remember anything.

"I d-don't know wh-what you m-mean, what have I d-done?" I managed to stammer and his expression changed from cold to appalled and completely and utterly disgusted. It was an expression I'd never seen before on Jiang's face and it scared me. It scared me a lot.

"You can't be serious," he yelled at me. "You cheated on Shay with Jamie and you're asking me what you've done!" Ok, something definitely didn't seem, right now - there was no way in hell I'd cheat on Shay. I loved him to bits and even the thought of doing something to jeopardise our relationship confused me. I mean why would I want anyone else? Shay was the best thing that had ever happened to me. He was kind, handsome, intelligent. What could possibly make me need anything else?

"Why w-would I w-want to cheat on Shay, Jiang?" I asked, perplexed. "I love him."

"You tell me," he spat. "You aren't honestly going to try and pretend you don't remember? Cos that really would be low Cherry." Now I started to get worked up too. I honestly had no idea what he was talking about. How dare Jiang come in here and start accusing me of things that were completely impossible. It wasn't fair!

"Shay I actually h-h-have no idea wh-what you're talking ab-bout. I'd n-never cheat on Shay and you know it," I yelled as loud as I could manage. Big mistake. I started to feel faint and my vision became blurry. Jiang noticed the change immediately and I think the expression on his face changed to something that looked vaguely worried.

"Cherry?" he asked uncertainly. "Cherry are you ok?" I could hear a loud beeping noise, coming from somewhere near my bed and it seemed to be getting slower. I think I vaguely recall Jiang reaching over me to the help button on the side of the bed but everything after that was a blur. Doctors coming in. Doctors going out. Doctors wheeling my bed along a strange corridor. And then nothing. Just a black hole that seemed to be sucking me in and I sunk gratefully into it's warm embrace which greeted me like an old friend. If I were conscious, I probably would have laughed at the irony...I didn't have any old friends and the new friends I had made now hated me for some reason. They were saying I had cheated on Shay...but the very idea of tht was completely laughable. Wasn't it?

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**I** **hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I personally found the new side to Jiang quite scary but also quite touching as it truly shows that he has come to regard Shay as a friend, and you have to remember that due to his sexuality, he did not have many when I first introduced him to this story. The end of the chapter did show though that he still has just a little compassion for Cherry, even if what she's done is unforgivable (at least in my eyes even if I did make it happen ;) ). What do you think of Cherry's amnesia also? Did you like it? I thought that it was an interesting twist and would also prolong the whole thing a bit longer. Also, it gives everyone (who believes her at least) a bit of a dilemma. Do they tell her she cheated on Shay? Or do they try and get Shay to forget about what he saw and heard in order to help them repair the relationship quicker? And if it is the latter, can Shay really forgive Cherry for what she has done or will it continue to haunt their relationship for a long time yet? And what would happen if Cherry remembers? So many questions and I was wondering if you, my faithful readers, would like to give me the answers to some of them in the form of a little review. So what would you like to happen? How would you like Cherry and Shay's relationship to be repaired? And, of course, do you want jamie to come back into the story to haunt them at some point? I think he will as I hate to just ditch characters completely but if you don't want him to come back, only YOU can stop that from happening. So if you have any ideas that you desperately want included, READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW.**


	41. Chapter 41: NDE

**Hey everyone, I'm back again with another update. I'm glad to have had a good response for the last chapter even though obviously it was slightly heavier than the others and just a little bit depressing. I would like to thank Sobia and the random guest who reviewed the last chapter for...well for reviewing lol. It is much appreciated and definitely inspired me not to stop writing. Just to clear things up, yes, Cherry has lost her memory as I thought it would give me more options for how Shay can forgive her and stuff like that. It's a bit of a drastic move but I think it could potentially make things like ten times more interesting, if I manage to do the chapters justice which may not be completely possible but l like it anyhow and I'm glad some of you do. ****I would also like to thank Violet-Revenge for reviewing. I also love the character of Jiang and was missing him after him being absent for a while.** :) Also, the title of this chapter (NDE) means Near Death Experience, which kinda gives the chapter away a bit but hey, you still don't know what'll happen in her NDE. So until then: READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW.

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Chapter 41: NDE

They say that when you die, your life flashes before your eyes and in a sense, the people that say that are right. But the life you see is not a true representation, for you only see the good parts. I'm not saying that I have had a particularly bad life or anything...I just know that I have had some pretty low points, especially in the last year. As everything faded away I saw my mum and dad happy, my new family, and Shay. My mind lingered on Shay for the longest. My beautiful boyfriend. The one I had wanted to spend the rest of my life with. But he looked sad, like something was upsetting him and his arm was outstretched, reaching for something, possibly me. I sensed that something was wrong. I reached out towards him to but as my hand reached the point where it should have touched his, it merely passed through air and he withdrew his hand, looking at me with disgust, like I was dirty or unclean or something.

And then everything faded into the distance and everything turned black. Weirdly enough, I still seemed vaguely aware of my surroundings though. Wait, where was I? I looked around and was surprised to find myself in a room with black walls, black carpet and well...pretty much black everything. It probably should have seemed like an omen but for some reason it just felt like home except in all in black. I walked around the small room and my footsteps echoed loudly, reverberating around the room and causing a pounding in my head.

I came to a door on the far side of the room and was surprised at first that I hadn't noticed it almost immediately but then again, it was black and blended in extremely well with the surrounding walls. On a whim, I decided to open it and go exploring. On reflection, it probably wasn't the wisest idea but I was curious and just a little bored. I looked out and everything was still pitch black. I took a few tentative steps down the corridor, keeping one hand firmly on the wall so as not to lose my sense of direction completely and go back the way I had come.

After I had walked just a little way further, I saw a light and began to walk more quickly towards it. I walked quicker...quicker...quicker until I was jogging, running, sprinting towards it. I kept on running until suddenly, there was no ground beneath my feet and I was falling...

falling...

falling,

down...

down...

down.

I seemed to land with a jerk and my eyes flew open straight away. There were lots of faces around me. All were doctors and seemed to be incredibly relieved.

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**So I hope you all liked this chapter. I know it wasn't my best but I wasn't really sure how I was supposed to write about a near death experience so I hope it wasn't too bad. You know what I want you to do anyhows: READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW.**


	42. Chapter 42: MakingAmends

**Hey guys, back again with the next update for my story but before I commence with the next chapter, there are some things I would like to explain. I understand from Sobia that not all of the last chapter was entirely clear. Just so you all know, Cherry was having an NDE (or Near Death Experience) and this is basically what happened. It was essentially just a filler chapter and I understand it wasn't my best, so I do apologise and hope that I didn't cause you too much confusion. I would also like to thank Sobia for continuing to review as it does mean a lot to me and it's nice to see a reader who is as dedicated to this story as I am. Really, I do mean it. And I will make sure to try and include a bit of Honey in the near future as I don't think I've actually included her since Shay's rescue chapter and even then it was only a brief mention. So if you're lucky you may get some small mention of her in this chapter - I do at least have an idea of how I may include her. Finally, I honestly have no clue where this chapter is going so just bear with me and hopefully it will be as good as you are hoping for...if not just bear with me and wait for the new one to come out. So yeah anyhows, you know what I want you to all do people: READ, ENJOY, and (possibly most importantly) REVIEW.**

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Chapter 42: Making Amends

The next week was kind of confusing for me. I didn't really understand what had happened and I think everyone else was still trying to come to terms with it too. I couldn't quite believe I had just had a near death experience. The whole idea of dying and coming back to life seemed nothing short of extraordinary to me and it had definitely changed my perception of life. I worked doubly hard on my therapy over the coming weeks and gradually I began to gain both full movement and speech. I was still far from perfect but I was getting there. I had several broken ribs that I had acquired from the collision with the car but even they did not cause me too much pain (though probably because I was on rather a lot of pain medication).

The one aspect that had failed to return to me however, was my memory. I still had no idea of what I had actually done to Shay and no one was really explaining anything to me - not wanting to upset me and all. All I knew was that what I had done was unforgivable and that I would have to work doubly hard in order to get him back. He himself was the only person who had not yet been to visit me. Even Honey had, and that had proved to be a most fascinating, if a slightly depressing visit to say the least. I could recall it very clearly for days afterwards, so at least my memory wasn't completely gone.

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_"I didn't know you had it in you Cherry," Honey had smirked, storming into my hospital room. "If I didn't still care about him I'd almost be impressed. You really screwed things up this time...I doubt he's gonna forgive you for this."_

_"I don't even know what I've done," I whispered, my eyebrows creasing._

_"Oh honestly Cherry, you don't have to pretend with me and everyone knows it's just an act anyway," she rolled her eyes at me._

_"I'm not pretending," I said, annoyed._

_"Yeah sure," she replied, making it clear she didn't believe me before picking up a magazine and sitting down beside my bed._

_"Err...what are you doing," I asked, completely perplexed as to why she was still in the room._

_"God, that collision with the car really has made you thick!" she exclaimed. "I'm on babysitting duty."_

_"I don't need a babysitter," I protested and she smirked at the effect she'd clearly had on me. "Seriously Honey, I don't need or want you here so you can go now."_

_"Well I'm not going anywhere...I don't want them to think I'm neglecting my duties as the kind and caring big sister do I?" she said, smiling a little too sweetly, and turning her eyes back to the magazine in her hands, ignoring me for the rest of her time there until Charlotte came to excuse her._

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So like I said, a very memorable visit and one that had shaken me at least a little bit. I still wasn't entirely sure why everyone seemed to think I'd cheated on Shay with some physiotherapist person but I clearly must have done something wrong because he had not been to see me at all and had not even sent me a message through anyone. Clearly somewhere along the line I'd stuffed up really badly. I was going to sort things out though. I was determined to win back the heart of the one I loved and get my life back to normal, as soon as possible...not that I could really remember what normal was but all I could do was try (or at least that was my logic). If Shay had ever truly loved me, he would be able to forgive me after I had put in what he saw to be enough effort. I placed fixing things with Shay even higher than my recovery on my list of priorities for in my eyes, there was no point to my life without him. This may have seemed like a pretty pointless attitude to everyone else but only I knew how much he really mattered to me...which only made it harder to believe I could ever have been so stupid as to cheat on him in the first place. Of course there was just a slight possibility that everyone had gotten the wrong end of the stick...but seeing as everyone appeared to be labouring under the same delusions that did seem highly unlikely to me - even more unlikely in fact, than the possibility I had briefly lost my way and allowed myself to make the stupid mistake of being unfaithful to him. So for now I said nothing, and hoped that given time, everything would right itself and Shay would come back to me.

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**I hope you liked this chapter and that it made slightly more sense to you than the last. I would like to thank the guest who reviewed for answering my questions regarding the sex of Charlotte's baby and I have now reached a decision which, no doubt, you will be finding out in a few chapters time. I do still have a few more surprises to come which I have been dying to show and hopefully you will like them but if you don't well...c'est la vie and all that. :P I would also lik to thank all of the people once more who continue to review and also apologise as I'm not sure if I posted a chapter yesterday? I don't think I did and if so, it would have been due to a meeting at the college to do with some target A* program thingy, so much as I apologise, my college work does still have to come first, especially if I'm to achieve my extremely optimistic goal of getting into Oxbridge. I should be able to get a few chapters out tomorrow though as I have the day off because of some admin day thingy. And I have just realised how many times I have used the word thingy in this authors note so I think I should probably stop now. Anyhows, READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW! :D **


	43. Chapter 43: Breathe

**Hey again guys, first things first I am like super super sorry that I haven't posted in a while...I've just been so snowed under with college work and revision that I haven't had time to do any writing. Sad times! :( I hope you enjoyed the last chapter I posted for you. I certainly enjoyed writing it and I hope that Sobia enjoyed the mention of Honey that I promised, even if it was only a brief mention. I think it fitted in reasonably well with the story and I was already considering including her in that way anyway so it wasn't straying very far from my original story either. If anymore of you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them too and also incorporate them into my story. Also, of course, if you (Sobia) have anymore ideas, I would be thrilled to include them, especially due to the fact that you appear to be my most dedicated reviewer. Also, thanks to Sobia for reviewing my last chapter once again, aside from all else, people reviewing actually gives me something to write in these ridiculously long author's notes. ) Hope that's not gonna put anyone off of reviewing. This chapter is named after the Taylor Swift song Breathe...you'll see why later on. So anyway, on with the story, READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW. :D**

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Chapter 43: Breathe

Over the next week, I put loads of thought and effort into how I was going to apologise to Shay and finally, I came up with an idea that I thought was a winner...but it would involve a lot of hard work on my part and it could be a fairly long time until I would be good enough to pull it off. For starters, I would need to improve my speech drastically. It was already much improved from when I had lost it first...but it was nowhere near good enough to sing a whole song yet, which was my eventual aim. I knew that obviously singing him a song wasn't going to magically fix all of our problems straight away, but it would be a start and it would be something that he, as a musician may actually appreciate and find personal.

The song I had picked was Breathe by Taylor Swift and I thought it summed up the whole situation (even if I couldn't remember it) almost perfectly. I just had to work out when exactly I was going to do it. Both Shay and I had been discahrged from hjospital by this point but I was still going in for weekly speech and physiotherapy sessions. According to Charlotte and Paddy, Shay was going to physiotherapy sessions still too but evidently he was still avoiding me.

The wedding was scheduled for two weeks time and I knew that that would be the perfect time to perform my song but only if I was ready. Though I was determined, I knew that the task ahead of me would be long and difficult, and I was sensible enough not to be too optimistic and get my hopes up.

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Over the next few days, I tried not to let Shay's absence from my life affect me too much but I didn't really realise quite how much I missed him until I saw him one day, coming out of the hospital. For a minute I just stared, unsure of what to do. Then I came to my senses and called after him.

"Shay!" I yelled as loud as I could. "Shay!" At first he pretended he couldn't hear me, but he was unable to ignore me any longer when an old man tapped him on the shoulder and said something, pointing at me. He nodded sighing and started walking slowly back towards me. My heart was thudding in my chest. This would be the first form of contact I had had with him since I had done the unforgivable. I wasn't sure what to say, what to do, how to act. I wasn't even sure if he would let me talk. He stood there in fornt of me and I was suddenly unsure of what I should say, if anything at all, so I merely settleed for his name.

"Shay," I stated.

"Cherry," he nodded at me, his eyes looking defeated. "Long time no see."

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**So I hope you liked this chapter and don't hate me too much for the cliffie. I promise I'll try to update soon but I can't make any guarantees, so until the next time, READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW!**


	44. Chapter 44: ActionsSpeakLouderThanWords

So** hey guys, wow I know it's been a long time...I'm amazed that people are still reading and reviewing. I have know reached 71 reviews and 4,285 hits and am both ecstatic and extremely grateful to all of you. As a reward, I now finally have another update for you after months of having to concerntrate solely on exams and english coursework. I would promise to update more often...but I'm going to have to be honest with you guys - really, that is unlikely to happen. So rather than making any false promises, I am merely going to promise to update whenever I can as this really and truly is the best I can possibly do. it is unfortunate, but I seem to have basically filled up my timetable, hence meaning I have literally no free time. I hope you can all forgive me for this.**

**So at the end of the last chapter, I left our story at a major cliffhanger which was really mean and I'm basically really really sorry for that. I apologise profusely, and hope to make this a really good chapter for you all. I'm not gonna lie, I'd left it so long since the last update that I had actually forgotten what had happened and so I really did not mean to do that to you all...I feel like a majorly bad person for it. So basically, we saw Shay talk to Cherry at the end of the last chapter for the first time in...well for the first time in ages. This is like a major thing to happen and so increases my guilt for leaving it so long before updating. Not sure what's gonna happen in this chapter so here goes.**

**Oh and I know I've been mean but please R&R as it really does mean a lot to me. :)**

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**Chapter 44: Actions Speak Louder Than Words**

**_'"Shay," I stated._**

**_"Cherry," he nodded at me, his eyes looking defeated. "Long time no see."'_**

"I'm sorry," I whispered, unable to meet his tortured gaze. "I never meant to hurt you Shay...things just...well they just kinda happened. I never wanted any of this and I don't even know what I've done."

"I know," he choked. "That's why it's so hard not to forgive you." My heart sped up and leaped into my throat. Shay wanted to forgive me? Did this mean there was hope for us?

"Then why don't you?" I asked, not allowing myself to even dare to hope.

"Well you hurt me Cherry. You cheated on me with that...that thing. How could you do that to me? I thought our relationship actually meant something to you. After everything we've been through, I would have thought you'd try harder to stay faithful, not cheat on me with the first piece of trash that looked your way. Aside from all else, he's too old for you Cherry, do you think you meant anything to him?"

"I cheated on you?" I asked, my eyes widening. How could I have done something like that? "But I love you Shay. There must be some sort of mistake."

"I really wish there was Cherry. I love you too, but I'm really not sure if I can ever get past this and forgive you."

"So let me make it up to you," I murmured, reaching up a hand to stroke his cheek softly and gently.

"I'm not sure it's that easy Cherry. It's not like you stood me up on a date or something stupid like that. You were unfaithful to me. I found out on my birthday for heavens sake. When I walked in on you two arguing, I was crushed and I felt as if my whole world was falling apart. I don't ever want to feel like that again - I need time for my heart to heal before we can even be friends again. I'm sorry Cherry, that's the way I feel and I would be grateful if you'd just respect that and give me the space I need." The anguish was clear both his voice and his eyes and my hand fell from his cheek like I'd been burnt. As he turned around and walked into the hospital there were tears streaming down both of our faces. Cheating on Shay was something I would regret for the rest of my life and as I had that rumination, I suddenly remembered everything as if I'd been holding back all that time and all I'd needed was some sort of trigger.

As if to try and escape the terrible memories now flowing freely through me, I began to run again. I ran through the hospital doors and back towards my room, and when I reached it, I let the sobs truly begin. That was how Jiang found me half an hour later, sitting cross legged on my bed sobbing into my pillow.

"Uh Shay rang me and told me what happened," Jiang stated awkwardly, walking over to the side of my bed.

"Just leave Jiang, I don't deserve you or Shay, or anyone," I said, the voice muffled by my pillow. Jiang's arm reached tentatively around my shoulder and gently pulled the pillow away from my mouth as if he was afraid it might suffocate me.

"Come on Cherry, it's not that bad," he started and when I glared at him he continued. "Shay called me to tell me you would be upset so he must still care at least a little bit - that's something isn't it?"

"I don't deserve his forgiveness Jiang," I yelled at him. "I gave up that right when I did the unforgivable and broke both of our hearts."

"Look, Cherry. I'm not going to even try and make excuses for your behaviour or pretend that I understand it either y - it was unforgivable and I think everyone agrees with that much - but I think most people also agree that it was out of character. Shay knows that too, and I think that given time, he will forgive you." I shot him a skeptical glance. "Just wait and see what happens Cherry. Don't give up on your life yet, not while you still have a bunch of people who still love and care about you.

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**So there's your next chapter. I really hope you liked it after the long break...I actually really enjoyed writing this chapter along to Demi Lovato's 'Give Your Heart a Break' so I hope that means you'll enjoy reading it. Even if it is just a smidge depressing, you can see I have given Cherry and Shay hope and I do plan to bring them back together again in the end...I think...I guess I won't make any promises but I would say it's highly probable as they are totally made for each other.**

**So anyway, you know the drill guys...READ and REVIEW...it really would mean a lot to me. :) Love y'all :D **


	45. Chapter 45: EscapeRoute

**Hey guys, so yeah basically I'm really sorry again that I've left it so long before posting another chapter but I hope you all checked out The Strength To Face The Truth which is my new Gingersnaps fanfiction. I've only had 18 views and 2 reviews on it so far so it would be great if you could all read that too. Also, I am expecting another chapter of that to come out soon so yeah, it would be cool if you could all take a look and maybe drop me a couple of reviews. :) Anyway so yeah, Shay and Cherry actually had a proper conversation last chapter, albeit one that didn't necessarily end so well for Cherry and she ended up heartbroken, crying to a slightly more sympathetic Jiang. So I guess you could say that things are kinda looking up for her. So anyway yeah, it's perfectly clear to everyone I think, that Shay still cares about Cherry very much and that they are eventually going to get back together, it's just a matter of how long I leave you all hanging, and so basically how mean I'm feeling. I think you will all like the chapter I have planned for you very soon and I'm pretty sure you will all hate the last chapter which I already have planned out but depending on your response to the last chapter of this one, I may well change my plans for the sequel just slightly. But anyway, we will have to see how it all goes so for now, I would very much appreciate it if you would read and review...I really would be very grateful. Oh and remember to check out The Strength To Face The Truth and also anything written by the person I Beta for, Gabriella Somerfield.**

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**Chapter 45: Escape Route**

So, it was official. I now remembered everything. I had cheated on Shay with my physiotherapist and broken his heart. Jiang had been right about one thing he'd said though - it had been completely out of character. It was just one example of how one moment of stupidity could ruin everything important to you and though I desperately wanted Shay to forgive me, I knew that I didn't deserve his forgiveness and that nothing I could do would ever truly make up for what I had done. Suddenly my song idea seemed stupid, cheesy and infantile and yet the song I had chosen - Breathe by Taylor Swift - still seemed strangely appropriate, so I continued to practice in the hope that Shay would listen to the lyrics of the song, and hear the regret behind them, rather than what would probably seem like just a stupid empty gesture to him.

I think that, by now, one thing was perfectly clear to everyone - I had never meant to hurt Shay and no-one could really figure out the reasons behind my infidelity, not even myself. The only reason I could come up with was that things were moving so fast, I wanted them to slow down slightly. I had never, however, wanted things to come to a complete standstill, which had of course been the consequences of my actions. I also knew that, really, if I had wanted things to slow down, all I would have had to do was talk to Shay. He was a reasonable person and would have understood, but instead I did something he would probably never understand, something he would probably never completely forgive.

At the moment, there were just so many thoughts circling around and around in my head. I was desperately searching for an escape route, a way to stop thinking about what I had done, even if just for a little while. I was searching for an escape route that, unfortunately, didn't seem to exist currently. I had considered suicide a few times, when I had been really unhappy and didn't understand what I had done wrong, but I knew, deep down, that Shay would not respect that and nor would he feel sympathetic towards me if I failed.

I looked up as someone entered my room and was shocked to see none other than Jamie standing before me. I let out an involuntary snarl that did not sound like me and turned my back on him. I heard footsteps crossing the floor and when he put a hand gently on my shoulder, I flinched away from his touch. I did not want him to be here. After I had remembered what I had done, I had never wanted to see Jamie again, and yet here he was, hanging around like a bad smell, coming back to haunt me.

"So Cherry," he said, "long time, no see."

"Get out of here Jamie, I never want to see you again," I hissed at him.

"Now now Cherry, no need to be rude," he smirked at me. "I only came because I heard you were in need of assistance."

"I don't need anything from you."

"So you don't want to escape from your current feelings of depression and worthlessness?" he asked turning towards the door, but his last question had caught my attention and he knew it.

"Wait," I called after him causing him to turn. "What did you have in mind?"

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**So this is my next chapter for you. Please read and review. It really would mean a lot to me in this stressful exam period. Love y'all and I'll try have another chapter for you soon. :D **


	46. Chapter 46: Anything But That

**Hello everyone, first things first, I am super duper sorry that I have not updated in almost a year...I've been really swamped with work and although I wish I could promise that the updates will become more frequent, I just can't right now...I have too much on my plate. However, here is my definite promise to you...by the end of the summer holidays, I will have reached at least chapter 55...if not the end of this fanfiction...I have BIG BIG BIG plans for the last few chapters (I aim to end this on chapter 60). I know that I the end chapter you are all going to hate me...I will be cruel...but I guess we'll just have to see how things go and I want you to know that I do plan to write a sequel to this but I feel I need to continue with my other fanfictions first. Lastly...I really do love you guys who are sticking with this story despite me, being the evil person that I am, updating so irregularly and infrequently...you guys are the reason I want to keep writing. Anyway, you know the drill...READ, ENJOY, AND REVIEW!**

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**Chapter 46: Anything But That**

_"Get out of here Jamie, I never want to see you again," I hissed at him._  
_"Now now Cherry, no need to be rude," he smirked at me. "I only came because I heard you were in need of assistance."_  
_"I don't need anything from you."_  
_"So you don't want to escape from your current feelings of depression and worthlessness?" he asked turning towards the door, but his last question had caught my attention and he knew it._  
_"Wait," I called after him causing him to turn. "What did you have in mind?"_

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"No, no," he smiled wickedly, "you've made it clear that you don't need anything that I might have to give you."

"Damn it Jamie, I might even forgive you for getting me into this mess if you can get me out of it," I growled at him, baring my teeth so that I had an uncanny resemblance to a feral animal.

"Ask politely now Cherry, I'm sure your parents would be appalled if you forgot your pleases and thank-yous," he said, his eyes innocently wide with mock shock.  
"Please may you help me," I spat out, putting extra emphasis on the please and glaring at him with a venomous gaze that any normal person would have flinched away from, but Jamie just stood there at the foot of my bed smirking at me. I wanted nothing more than to wipe that stupid smirk off of his face, but I knew that would get me nowhere as, right now, he seemed to be the only person who was willing to help me.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little sachet full of a fine white powder and my eyes widened in horror. Drugs. This was his solution. I wasn't that desperate, that stupid...was I? No. Definitely not. I would not, could not go down that route - not even with the way I was currently feeling. It would be foolish and reckless and Shay would definitely never talk to me again if he ever found out.  
And then there was that other feeling...a feeling that there was just some other reason why taking the drugs would not be a good idea. I couldn't quite put my finger on it and I didn't understand it but I knew that if I took the drugs, the repercussions would be far greater than I could currently comprehend or imagine.  
"So, what do you think Cherry? I promise you, it'll work," he asked me, jeering.  
"Do you think I'm stupid Jamie? I can't take drugs."  
"Why, because you're so high and mighty? You make mistakes just like the rest of us...or do you not remember cheating on your precious boyfriend with me?"  
"That was different...it was a silly mistake. To take drugs would just be stupid. I can't believe that you'd even suggest that," I looked at him reproachfully.  
"Well, whatever then, don't say that I didn't try to help you. I guess there are some people that you just can't help, no matter how hard you try," he sighed tragically and left the room with me staring at his back.

I sighed in relief because no matter how much I had told him that his offer did not interest me in the slightest, it really did. I couldn't believe how close I had come to actually accepting his offer because it proved to me how desperate I really was and how much I really needed help. Part of the problem was that I was lonely, and as a result, I had had too much time to dwell on everything bad that had happened. Jiang had not been to visit me in weeks and although he claimed that he was starting to forgive me for what I had done, I did not believe him and I couldn't help but feel as if his continued absence from my bed side might have something to do with my infidelity.  
As if right on cue, Jiang walked in at that precise moment looking at me suspiciously. As usual, great timing - walking in just as the reason that he was probably avoiding me was walking out. That would definitely help to persuade him that there was nothing still going on between Jamie and I.  
"What was he doing in here Cherry?" he asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked at me.  
"Nothing important, Jiang," I replied and when he still looked sceptical, I added on, "he came in to harass me, I told him to clear off...end of story." He still didn't look convinced but he nodded as if to accept my story for now.  
"What did he want then?"  
"Like I said before, it's nothing important," I insisted, scared for some reason of Jiang finding out. It was just another stress that I couldn't quite deal with at the moment. "I haven't seen you around here for ages anyway, you must have been pretty busy, so what's been going on in the world?"  
"Umm...not much really," Jiang looked at the ground guiltily and my heart sank. I mean it had been pretty obvious that he had been ignoring me but to as good as hear a confession from his mouth was like a knife to the heart. Jiang saw the expression on my face and launched quickly into an explanation. "It's not that I haven't wanted to come in Cherry...I've spent pretty much the whole time while I haven't been at school camped outside your room. I just...I'm still struggling to deal with what you did to Shay and I didn't want to say anything that would cause you more pain or cause another NDE. I genuinely thought I was doing what was best for you. I'm sorry, I didn't realise I'd hurt you more."  
"It's not the hurt so much as the loneliness," I explained. "It just feels like no one bothers coming to see me now that they know that I'm going to be ok." Jiang looked slightly shocked at this last statement.  
"How many visitors have you had in the last week, Cherry?" he asked and gasped when I didn't answer, and instead looked down at the bed sheets. "I'm so sorry Cherry, I'm sure there's a simple explanation. I promise that it's not that nobody cares...I still care."  
"If you hadn't seen Jamie coming out of my room, would you have come in to see me Jiang?" I asked.  
"Well, no," he admitted and I nodded slowly, disappointed. "But I have explained my reasons why."  
"Yeah, whatever. I understand," I swallowed. "Well I'm going to be ok, you don't have to worry about me or feel obligated to come and see me anymore."  
"But I want to-" he started but I cut him off.  
"No Jiang, it's fine. You've made it perfectly clear how you feel," I said dejected. "If you don't mind, I'd like you to leave now - I've become rather accustomed to being left alone with my thoughts." He looked at me sadly, and I could see he was genuinely upset about the situation but my disappointment clouded my mood and I just wanted to be left alone, despite the fact that just seconds ago, I had wanted nothing more than some company. Without another word, he got up and left the room with me staring blankly at his back.

I left it a while after he had left the room before I too got up and left the room in search of the one person who I knew could help me numb myself. I went in search of Jamie. I went in search of drugs, the only solution I could currently come up with.


End file.
